A burglar who broke into the home of Justice Minister Alan Shatter has been given an 18 months jail sentence. Darragh Heavey (26) of Moeran Road in Walkinstown pleaded guilty to the burglary at Delbrook Manor, Ballinteer on March 18th last year.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that when gardai told the father-of-two that Alan Shatter was the owner of the house the 26-year-old replied ‘who?’

Heavey was arrested shortly after the burglary when gardai stopped him and matched his shoes to a muddy footprint found inside Mr. Shatter’s home.

Two of the Minister's watches valued at €60 and €20, a bag of US coins, gardening gloves, a mini-crowbar and two screwdrivers were recovered.

'Down right stupid'

Heavey, who has 20 previous convictions, admitted carrying out the burglary but called it 'unprofessional, mediocre and down right stupid'. The court heard the break-in was detected when Garda Olivia Hawkes was on patrol and heard an external house alarm.

She was informed by the local station that an alert had been received from a house on Delbrook Manor. The house was unoccupied at the time because the Minister and his wife were abroad.

Inside an alarm panel had been ripped off the wall and a kitchen window had been forced open and damaged. Judge Mary Ellen Ring said the case ‘shows the value of an immediate response to such events by gardai’.

Mr. Heavey was on bail at the time of the offence having been caught in possession of a sawn-off shotgun and shotgun cartridges under suspicious circumstances on March 16th 2011.

The father-of-two is serving 2 and a half years in jail for that offence and today’s 3 year sentence with 18 months suspended will start on completion of the earlier sentence.