Wednesday, May 13, 2009

"Jobless, Illiterate Irishman" Loots English Castles



A man described in the British press as a "jobless, illiterate Irishman" has been arrested in Britain for a series of robberies at stately manor homes and national landmarks.

Andrew Shannon, 44, of Dublin is accused of travelling to England for a "weekend crime spree" with an accomplice, the two men using GPS locators and wireless communications devices to locate target homes and to communicated with each other during their robberies - almost always conducted while the homes were open for public enjoyment.

Apparently Mr. Shannon considered six homes, including Blenheim Palace, a "soft target," walking away with porcelain, paintings, silver and a walking stick from Belvoir Castle.

He was found out when he was approached by a security man who saw two oil paintings stuffed into Shannon's laptop case.

Police found out that Shannon had pilfered items from Castle Howard, Blenheim, Belvoir and other landmark homes, customarily open to the public to display their historic contents.

Shannon was sentenced to three years "in the nick."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Jobless illiterate Irishman, Ilove it. No love lost between the brits and the micks, eh?

J.D. said...

As an American of Irish descent, I will state that I was somewhat chafed at the description... for a minute!

Sad fact is that what this guy and his mate did is pretty darn low. Three years of three warm meals and a cot has to look a lot better than what they would have done to him a couple of hundred years ago.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I resemble that remark... great headline!!