Woman caught handling stolen Zara, H&M clothes to be sentenced

A woman was caught handling stolen clothing when an investigating garda became suspicious of items offered for sale online at half their market value.

Garda Darrgh Frewen traced the poster of the adverts back to Julie McMahon (47) and secured a warrant to search her home.

A large number of clothing from shops such as Zara, River Island and H&M were discovered, some of which still bore their security tags. McMahon was unable to provide receipts for the clothing and the store managers later confirmed the property as having been stolen from their shop.

McMahon of O’Brien Hall, Gardiner Street, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of stolen property with an estimated value of between €1,142 and €2,000 at her home on November 13th, 2018. She has two previous convictions including one for theft.

Judge Elma Sheahan remanded McMahon on continuing bail and adjourned the case to May 7th, next, to allow for a pending District Court offence to be dealt with.

Gda Frewen told John Quirke BL, prosecuting, that McMahon made certain admissions following her arrest. He said a small amount of cash and cannabis were also found during the search.

Joseph Mulrean BL, defending, told Judge Sheahan that his client was a grandmother and a mother of four children. He said all of her children are hard-working individuals who contribute to society.

Counsel said his client was under “dire financial straits” at the time and “resorted to this behaviour as a result”.

Mr Mulrean said his client has written a letter of apology and asked the court to accept that this was “a period (in her life) of going in the wrong direction that will not occur again”.