Teenage knicker thief discovered robbing woman's home while wearing her clothes

A teenage knicker thief was discovered burgling a woman’s home while dressed in her clothes. John Maguire, 18, appeared at Craigavon Magistrates Court in Northern Ireland on Friday charged with the burglary. Aghagallon man Maguire was caught by his traumatised victim inside her home on September 22 last year wearing two of her tops, the court was told.

After he ran past her in the direction of his own home, she discovered he had rifled through her underwear and stolen some of her knickers. It is believed that Maguire, whose family run the successful Island Salads company in Aghagallon, was later discovered by police in bed wearing her pants. He had also ripped some of her dresses trying them on, and had laid out sets of silky underwear on her bed.



In court, Maguire’s solicitor tried to gag the victim from talking about the incident on social media but a judge denied the request. The lawyer said his teenage client apologised for his actions and had been very drunk when he entered the woman’s home. But his victim, who is still emotionally scarred by the break-in, said Maguire has never said sorry. Speaking about her ordeal, Maguire’s victim explained how she had returned from a night out to find her front door of her home locked from the inside.

“I couldn’t get in and after knocking and knocking, John Maguire appeared standing before me wearing my clothes - I was in total shock as I knew him from living near me.” Maguire was given an 18-month probation order for his crime and ordered to pay his victim £250 compensation. He was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting the woman for two years. But Maguire’s father said the incident had been blown out of proportion. “What he did wasn’t even that bad, it was blown way out of proportion,” he said. “He is only 18 and he has never been in trouble before in his life. John is devastated by this; he has been in bed crying his eyes out.”