Burglar posing as hotel guest stole alcohol and charged breakfast to a room
Niamh O’Donoghue
A burglar who entered a hotel with a suitcase pretending to be a guest and stole alcohol before ordering breakfast and charging it to a room, has been jailed for three years.
Enda Murray (44) of Bellavista Mews, Deansgrange Road, Blackrock, Co Dublin entered the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire carrying a suitcase on February 3, 2025. He readjusted the camera in the hotel ballroom and stole €365 worth of alcohol. He then ordered breakfast and charged it to a room in the hotel.
Murray, who “only does commercial premises”, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to four separate incidents of burglary in the Deansgrange and Dun Laoghaire areas between December 2024 and April 2025. He has 56 previous convictions, including 14 for burglary.
The court heard a manager of the Royal Marine Hotel discovered on February 26 last that the camera in the Carlisle Suite of the hotel had been moved. CCTV footage from February 3 showed a male adjusting the camera towards the ceiling.
A male was seen entering the hotel with a suitcase, but it was established later that he was not a guest.
He attempted to open a till in the hotel’s Pavilion Bar, forced the shutters open and climbed into the bar. He opened the fridges and took items of alcohol worth €365. The court heard that in doing so, he caused €50 worth of damage. He then had breakfast and charged it to a room in the hotel. Murray was later identified from CCTV footage.
Detective Garda Andrew Diamond told Patrick McCullough BL, prosecuting, that in another incident, Murray broke into Kelly’s Beauty in Deansgrange in the early hours of the morning on April 20, 2025. It was discovered by the manager that a burglary had happened, and CCTV was harvested.
Murray was identified as having entered the premises through a residential home downstairs. The occupant was at home in bed asleep and was awoken after hearing a noise and saw a man attempting to charge an electric scooter. Murray was removed from the premises by the injured party.
He jumped out the window and was spoken to by gardaí. He admitted he had broken in and only went in to charge the scooter. He told gardaí he “only does commercial premises”.
The court heard that he was found with a crack pipe on him. He was detained in Dun Laoghaire Garda Station, but was intoxicated and deemed unfit for interview.
On January 25, 2025, Murray entered another pub in the city by putting a wheelie bin beside the wall. The court heard bottles of alcohol were taken, and some were found smashed. A DNA match for Murray was made from blood-staining at the scene.
Staff at Caribou bar on Stephen St Lower, Dublin 2, were closing up for the night on April 14, 2025, when Murray came in and made conversation with a manager. The manager then went to attend to his duties, but later noticed his iPhone had been stolen. The court heard the phone was valued at €1,000. CCTV was viewed, and Murray was identified by gardaí.
On the same date, Murray entered through an unsecured window of the Shelbourne Hotel after climbing over a locked gate and took €600 from the float. He was identified from CCTV and detained, but nothing of evidential value arose. He entered pleas on the first occasion, and no victim impact statements were made.
Detective Garda Robert Mahony agreed with Mr Clarke, who said: “his mother is at the end of her rope with him” and “he’s at an age where he needs to cop himself on.”
The garda also agreed Murray committed mostly “nuisance type offences’ which would normally be dealt with at the district court, but due to the volume of them, they were sent forward to the circuit court.
Det Gda Mahony further agreed they were “all opportunistic offences” and that Murray “sees something and will take it”.
At one pub, he did not appear to havean item with him to put the alcohol he stole into. He smashed some of them on the ground because he was not able to carry them and lost a number of them before he even got out.
In mitigation, Mr Clarke said Murray has no partner and no children and is “currently clean”. He is serving a sentence with his earliest release date being October 31, 2027, the court heard.
Passing sentence today/yesterday (WED), Judge Orla Crowe noted all were commercial premises except one. However, the judge said they were still “violations of people’s businesses”.
Judge Crowe said the offences were opportunistic but caused inconvenience and noted none of the property was recovered.
The judge noted “the lack of finesse” of Murray throwing bottles out of Kehoe’s pub because he had no bag with him. The judge said Murray “was clearly in the grip of considerable drug addiction”.
Judge Crowe sentenced him to three years and nine months imprisonment with the final nine months suspended to incentivise rehabilitation.
