Five from same family in court on burglary charges

The men from the Cash family were refused bail at Newry Magistrates Court after District Judge Eamon King said he feared they would flee the jurisdiction.

Of the five incidents, two related to properties in Kernan Avenue, Portadown, two in Alexander Gardens and Knockamell Park, Armagh, while the last was on the Armagh Road in Newtownhamilton.

Joseph and Johnny Cash, both 18-years-old, Ned (30), Martin (33) and Michael (19), all from an address at Laver Park on the Kilmore Road in Dublin, are jointly charged with five counts of burglary with intent to steal on Wednesday and a further charge of going equipped for theft the following day, Thursday.

The court heard police were able to trace footwear marks at two of the scenes back to two of the defendants, describing how investigating officers found tool marks at each of the scenes with witnesses giving statements of spotting a black Saab car with a southern registration.

The car sped off when police tried to stop it but the detective said the defendants were arrested when it drove into a dead end.

He added that no-one had admitted driving it as when uniformed police approached the vehicle, four of the men were in the back seat and one was in the passenger seat.

All five refused to answer police questions and refused to take part in a line-up identification parade.

Judge King said the court had “the impression that what’s taking place here is that people travel to an area along the M1 and carry out spate of burglaries and use the M1 to escape.”

“It’s a common modus operandi of travellers in this jurisdiction and also in the Republic of Ireland where they travel out from the main cities to rural areas, conduct a number of burglaries and then make their escape back up the motorways to where they are based.”

The men are due to appear again on June 1 via videolink.