Publican gets his Porsche back

November 1991

James Osborne of The Farmer’s Kitchen in Drinagh has been reunited with the prized Porsche which was stolen two weeks ago from outside his premises in the middle of the night.

The unfortunate story had a happy ending thanks to an article here in ‘ Wexford Diary’, and the vigilance of a Waterford woman who spotted a gleaming bottle-green Porsche parked outside her door.

Having read the ‘ Diary’ piece, which stated that the stolen car was the only one of that colour that was ever built, the woman smelled a rat and immediately contacted Waterford Gardaí, who took the car into custody. She also rang the Osbornes, who were overjoyed to hear the good news.

The had nearly given up hope of ever seeing the precious £20,000 car again, until the woman (whose husband happens to be a member of An Garda Siochána) contacted them with the happy message.

So delighted were the couple that they dropped everything and rushed to Waterford to recover the car, which has been their pride and joy for twelve years.

‘We were over the moon,’ said Rita Osborne. ‘We were devastated when it was stolen. I had a couple of sleepless nights over it. We’ve had it so long, and it means so much to us.

‘ The lady rang to say your car is in Waterford Garda Station. She had woken up and found it outside her house. And she had an idea it was ours because she had read the story in the newspaper.’

Apparently the car had been abandoned in Waterford by the thieves, and when recovered by the Osbornes, it was looking a little worse for the wear.

The petrol cap had been prised open, the door handle broken, and the paintwork damaged. Inside the car was a collection of rubbish, including Lucozade bottles, cigarette packets, and sweet wrappers, indicating that the culprits were probably young.