A burglar who walked into a hotel wheeling a suitcase, posed as a guest, stole alcohol, then calmly ordered breakfast and charged it to a random room has been jailed for three years, reports Breaking News.
Enda Murray (44) of Bellavista Mews, Deansgrange Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin entered the Royal Marine Hotel in Dún Laoghaire carrying a suitcase on February 3, 2025. He deliberately moved a security camera in the ballroom and stole €365 worth of alcohol before sitting down for breakfast and charging it to another guest’s room.
Murray, who told gardaí he “only does commercial premises”, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four separate burglaries in the Deansgrange and Dún Laoghaire areas between December 2024 and April 2025. He has 56 previous convictions, 14 of them for burglary, reports Breaking News.
The court heard that on February 26 the manager of the Royal Marine Hotel noticed the camera in the Carlisle Suite had been pointed at the ceiling. CCTV from February 3 showed a man wheeling in a suitcase and adjusting the camera.
The same man was later seen forcing open the shutters of the Pavilion Bar, climbing inside, raiding the fridges and taking alcohol worth €365 while causing €50 damage. He then ate breakfast and charged it to a room before leaving. Murray was identified from the footage, reports Breaking News.
Detective Garda Andrew Diamond told Patrick McCullough BL, prosecuting, that in a separate incident on April 20, 2025 Murray broke into Kelly’s Beauty salon in Deansgrange in the early hours by entering through a residential flat downstairs. The occupant, who was asleep in bed, woke to find Murray trying to charge an electric scooter inside the property.
The resident confronted him and forced him out. Murray jumped from a window, was stopped by gardaí nearby and admitted the break-in, claiming he only entered to charge the scooter. He again insisted he “only does commercial premises”., reports Breaking News.
The court heard he was found in possession of a crack pipe and was too intoxicated to be interviewed at Dún Laoghaire Garda Station.
On January 25, 2025 Murray used a wheelie bin to climb a wall and break into another pub, stealing bottles of alcohol and leaving some smashed. He was linked to the scene by DNA from blood stains, reports Breaking News.
At Caribou bar on Stephen’s Street Lower, Dublin 2 on April 14, 2025 Murray engaged a manager in conversation while staff were closing, then stole the manager’s iPhone worth €1,000 before leaving. He was identified on CCTV.
On the same date he climbed a locked gate, entered the Shelbourne Hotel through an unsecured window and stole €600 from the till float. He was later detained but no evidence was recovered until he entered guilty pleas. No victim impact statements were handed in, reports Breaking News.
Detective Garda Robert Mahony agreed with defence counsel that Murray’s mother “is at the end of her rope with him” and that “he’s at an age where he needs to cop himself on.”
The garda accepted the offences were mostly “nuisance-type” and opportunistic, normally dealt with in the District Court, but the sheer volume sent them to the Circuit Court. Det Gda Mahony agreed Murray simply “sees something and will take it”., reports Breaking News.
In one pub burglary he had nothing to carry the stolen bottles in, so he smashed several on the floor and dropped others while fleeing.
Defence counsel said Murray has no partner or children, is “currently clean” of drugs and is already serving a sentence with an earliest release date of October 31, 2027, reports Breaking News.
Passing sentence on Wednesday, Judge Orla Crowe noted almost all the premises were commercial but stressed they were still “violations of people’s businesses”.
Judge Crowe described the offences as opportunistic, causing significant inconvenience, with none of the stolen property recovered. She highlighted “the lack of finesse” in Murray hurling bottles out of Kehoe’s pub because he had no bag and said he was “clearly in the grip of considerable drug addiction”.
Judge Crowe imposed a sentence of three years and nine months imprisonment, suspending the final nine months to encourage rehabilitation, reports Breaking News.
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