Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Dead OAP’S card used to buy £6k worth of pizza
Man admits charges over tragic neighbour
A MAN used a bank card belonging to a dead neighbour to buy pizza worth almost £6,000 from Domino’s, a court heard yesterday.
Robert Sharkey is also accused of preventing the burial of the elderly woman, whose body lay undiscovered in her home for around two years.
The 24-year-old appeared at Belfast Crown Court yesterday where he admitted all but one of a series of charges he faces following the discovery of the remains of Marie Conlon. These include breaking into her house and stealing a bank card, then using it to pay bills and buy food over a two-year period – including spending almost £5,988 in Domino’s and £3,279 in Sainsbury’s.
The remains of the 68-year old were discovered in the bedroom of her Larkspur Rise flat in West Belfast last October.
Sharkey was arrested and charged with preventing the lawful burial of a corpse on dates between August 2015 and October 2017.
He admitted the offence yesterday and also entered guilty pleas to breaking into the house and taking batteries, tools and a coffee mug, and also stealing both £50 in cash from her and a First Trust debit card.
Sharkey, whose address was given as Grays Hill in Bangor, Co Down, also admitted six separate counts of fraud by false representation – using Ms Conlon’s First Trust bank card without authority.
Judge Geoffrey Miller listed the case again for September 24 to allow time to decide whether or not to prosecute on a burglary charge denied by the defendant.
Sentencing will be on October 12 with Sharkey released on bail.