€50,000 worth of computers stolen

chris2008x

Students in St Sheelan’s College in Templemore are at their wits end following the break-in and theft of 50,000 Euro worth if iMac computers on Tuesday night.

But, while the loss of the machines and all the software is huge, many of the students also lost a lot of project work and will now have to work round the clock in order to re-do a lot of their work, which was quite detailed.

A lot of the students in the college have applied for further third level courses through the CAO but require their results in order to be accepted into courses. This means that they are now facing long hours in order to get them to a stage where they can sit their exams and hopefully attain the required entry levels for college.

Gardai in Templemore are looking for the public’s help after the college was ransacked by the thieves who gained entry through a rear window. They got away with 25 state-of-the art iMac computers valued at €50,000,which were used by the plc course students.

Access was gained at around 9.30 on Tuesday night after the alarm was deactivated. It is believed that the gang may have hidden their getaway vehicle at a nearby vacant house in Richmond.

Anyone who was in the vicinity of Richmond late on Tuesday night and noticed anything suspicious, is asked to contact Templemore Gardai on 0504 31011.

Deputy Principal of the College Mr Micheal Lenihan told The Tipperary Star, “The computers had only be installed less than a year ago and we have quite a lot of software on them as well. It is going to take us a long time to get back to where we were at and unfortunately time is the one thing we don’t have at this stage of the academic year. These machines were being used by our Creative Media and Media Studies students and anyone who knows this end of business will be aware that iMac’s are used extensively in this hi-tech, graphic design industry.This is a big big blow to the students and to the college,” he said.

Crime Scene Investigators spent most of Wednesday in St Sheelan’s sifting through the scene and trying to establish facts about the theft. It is likely that these machines will now turn up for sale on the black market and consumers are being warned to be vigilant - if iMac computers are being offered for anything less than the normal price, beware. They generally cost about 1,500 Euro each.

Hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting about this but I think it's important as someone reading this could have been in the Templemore area and seen something or was approached by the thief's trying to sell these computers. I did a course there a few years ago and know a lot of the staff at TCFE formerly St Sheelans they are nicest people I have ever met during my education years and I really missed the place when I finished. The college, staff and students didn't deserve this and need these computers returned. If anybody here reading this knows anything about this break-in then please go to the Gardai.

Prodigious

Ouch. Can't see how they'll offload these too easily. Will keep an eye out.

Cereal Number

50k? two iMacs so...

Prodigious

Probably 40-50.

holystungun9

That's rough on the school and the students. Thieving ****s. Hope they get caught and punished accordingly and hopefully the computers are recovered before they are wiped or shipped off somewhere. I'm sure whoever did it would have some other criminal maybe in the North or across the water to sell them to and leave them deal with the nitty gritty of selling them on the private people.