Elderly victim's phone taken to stop her raising alarm

An Athboy pensioner had her house ransacked and her phone stolen after one of the thieves returned to the scene of the crime to stop her calling gardaí. On Tuesday 6th September at about 4.25pm, a woman who was out walking returned to her home to find four "well-dressed" males leaving her house. The woman, who lives alone and is thought to be in her 70s, described the men to gardai as being in their 30s, except for one man who was in his 20s. They had already ransacked her home of cash, valuables and personal items when the woman met the men leaving her driveway towards their getaway car. One of the gang then went back to the house to tell the woman that he would ring the local gardaí but made reference to the local sergeant being male. However, the local garda sergeant is Yvette McCormack and the woman quickly realised that the man was lying to her. He then took the phone from her and the four men escaped in a silver Audi A4 with either 2006 or 2007 plates and possibly a Galway registration. The men were described as wearing casual to smart shoes, jackets and trousers and left in the direction of either Kells or Navan. The victim was not physically harmed in the incident. Athboy Garda Station can be contacted on (046) 943 2201.