Trespasser jailed for scoping out a house claimed ‘Guardian angel’ changed his life

Trevor Cooke (45) got chatting to his guardian angel after he asked the man for money, his lawyer said, and he had helped Cooke to stay off drink and drugs, find a home and a steady job.

Judge David McHugh sentenced Cooke to four months in prison.

The defendant, of Kilmahuddrick Walk in Clondalkin, was found guilty of trespass at Westbury Avenue in Lucan on March 10, 2019.

Garda Ciaran Gillespie told Blanchardstown District Court Cooke entered the front of the property, before looking in the partially open front door.

He and a male accomplice walked along the side of the house, and looked over the wall. The incident was caught on CCTV.

In his evidence, Cooke claimed he had received a call from a friend of his father’s looking for a labourer to help him with a job in a house in Westbury estate.

Cooke claimed he did not have an address for the job, and he was looking into the house and over the garden wall to see if he could find any more signs of construction, as there was a half-built bed frame in the driveway.

A State solicitor asked Cooke whey he did not ring the front door bell. Cooke said he “did not want to alarm” any one in the house.

Finding him guilty, Judge McHugh said he was satisfied Cooke was “casing the joint”.

Defence lawyer Ciaran MacLoughlin said Cooke, a father of two, had been homeless until recently.

Last October, he stopped and he asked a man for money. The pair got talking. Cooke was now working for him, renting one of his houses, and was clean of drink and drugs.

With the help of this man, “his guardian angel”, Mr MacLoughlin said Cooke had completely turned his life around, and he asked the judge not to jail him.