First-time burglar broke his ankles jumping off the building

A FIRST burglar broke both ankles while attempting to escape by jumping out of an office building window as Gardaí arrived.

Ayne Connors, 23, also broke a heel and had to be taken to hospital after a bungled break-in at a union headquarters in Dublin city centre.

He was in debt for a pill addiction and had been said he should “better get the money or else”. heard a court.

Connors, of Markievicz House, Pearse Street, pleaded guilty to breaking into Mandate’s Cavendish Row headquarters and to a series of separate larceny, disciplinary and criminal offenses.

Judge Bryan Smyth adjourned the case for a parole report.

Dublin District Court heard that at 00:25 on 8 October 2019 an intruder broke into the union’s offices.

When Gardaí arrived, Connors jumped out of a window and was arrested.

He had to be taken to a hospital to be treated for his injuries from the height of the fall, the court heard.

He suffered two broken ankles and a shattered heel that required surgery.

Connors had a criminal record, but not for burglary.

Defense attorney Aonghus McCarthy said the defendant’s background was the “most tragic set of circumstances I have encountered”.

When Connors was a child, his father died in a traffic accident and later his little sister died in a fire. Connors had tried to save his sister but couldn’t.

The defendant’s mother also died.

Connors was a very talented boxer, but once he “started having a drink” his life “threw into a little chaos.” After being jailed for assault, he got out of prison with a pill addiction.

The defendant was “angry at life for not being given a fair hand,” Mr McCarthy said.

Connors had never broken in beforeadded Mr. McCarthy.