Elderly warned over spate of car park thefts by two women

A GARDA alert has been issued over two female thieves targeting elderly people in supermarket car parks in the southeast of the country.

These two women, one from Tallaght in Dublin and the other from Wexford, are not in any way connected to each other and operate separately. However, both are ‘causing huge upset’ by targeting the elderly by stealing their handbags and other valuable items from cars in supermarket car parks, mainly in Co. Wexford.

Gardaí say the women are ‘experienced robbers’ who ‘use their gender to not arouse suspicion’.

The Irish Daily Mail understands that both women have the same modus operandi. According to the Garda alert, the women wait until their victims place their handbags or other valuables into their car as they load their shopping before pouncing and making their theft.

The second method used is that the thieves steal victims’ handbags and valuables from their cars, which are generally left unlocked when the elderly people are returning their shopping trolleys after first loading their goods into their cars and leaving vehicles unlocked. Sources say the women appear to deliberately target ‘older people’ because they are ‘less likely to put up a fight’.

Both suspects have previous convictions for robbery and burglary. Both women drive the same make and model of a Czech car but gardaí stresses the women are ‘entirely unconnected’ to one another.

A senior source said: ‘Quite a lot of their victims will load their shopping, then leave their car unlocked and go to return their trolley, having left their valuables in the car and unlocked.’ The source added that these women are ‘pros’. The source continued: ‘In many cases, the elderly people have seen them in the car park but they are not suspicious of them because they are women.’

Both suspects are members of the Traveller community and both are married to well-known criminals involved in organised burglaries and robberies. One of the women is the daughter of one of Ireland’s most prolific organised burglars.