'You come close, you die' - machete-wielding man stole €180,000 from Waterford jewellery store during terrifying robbery
During the shocking incident, O’Connor brandished a machete, made threats to members of the public and physically forced the manager of Hallmark Jewellers, in City Square Shopping Centre, to place expensive jewellery items into a bag. Photo: Joe Evans
A 63-year-old man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for a large-scale jewellery store robbery he committed in Waterford city in 2024.
William O’Connor, with an address at 28 Carrigeen, Clonmel, stole €180,000 worth of jewellery from Hallmark Jewellers in City Square Shopping Centre.
During the shocking incident, O’Connor brandished a machete, made threats to members of the public and physically forced the manager of the store to place expensive jewellery items into a bag.
He fled to the UK after the incident and a largescale Garda operation commenced, leading to his eventual arrest.
Described as a “career criminal”, O’Connor has spent upwards of 30 years of his life in prison or detention, including over 10 years of incarceration in France for his involvement in an incident of theft in 2002, which resulted in the death of a man.
On Wednesday, January 10, 2024, William O’Connor arrived by bicycle to the rear entrance of City Square Shopping Centre.
He placed his bike on a railing outside and proceeded to enter. His face was concealed and he was holding a gear bag.
At 5:08pm, he hastily walked towards Hallmark Jewellers and removed a large machete from his bag.
He approached the counter of the jewellers and began waving the machete at the store manager.
O’Connor grabbed the manager by her hair and forcibly dragged her behind the counter to retrieve keys.
She was then dragged to the window display at the front of the store and was forced to fill his bag with jewellery.
The manager of the store attempted to escape, exiting from the store.
O’Connor followed and attempted to flee from the shopping centre.
What ensued was a scene of chaos, captured entirely on CCTV.
Bystanders who were present in the shopping centre bolted upon seeing the man leave the jewellers with his machete raised and swinging.
Whilst O’Connor ran through the centre, a member of the public sprayed a fire extinguisher at him in an attempt to stop him.
An employee of a barber shop chased him and threw a 'wet floor' cone at him.
The employee said in a Victim Impact Statement that O’Connor said to him: “You come close, you die.”
O’Connor exited the shopping centre through the same rear entrance he entered just minutes earlier.
He got onto his bicycle and made his escape.
Gardai received a report and began a large-scale investigation.
Significant amounts of CCTV footage from across the city were obtained, tracking the movements of O’Connor after his exit from the shopping centre.
His face remained concealed in the majority of the footage.
One segment of footage obtained from the Applemarket area showed him walking with his face covering removed however, which allowed a Garda officer from Clonmel to identify him.
O’Connor’s residence in Clonmel was searched. Nothing of value was found, nor was the suspect himself.
He had fled the jurisdiction.
Three days after the robbery, on January 13, O’Connor took a ferry to Holyhead in Wales. From there, he travelled to Manchester.
On January 16, he took a plane from Manchester to Dublin Airport and was arrested by Gardai on the tarmac as he was disembarking the plane.
An investigating Garda officer said that O’Connor was cooperative during his arrest.
He was transferred back to Waterford for interview in Waterford Garda Station.
He made no admissions and none of the stolen items were ever recovered.
William O’Connor was born in the UK on August 28, 1962.
He was brought to Ireland at a young age to live in Waterford and attended school there until he was 13 years old.
At 16-years-old, his life “took a spiral” and he turned to a life of crime.
Between the years 1976 and 2014, William O’Connor accumulated 43 convictions.
In 2014, he was convicted in a French court with committing theft with acts of violence causing death for an incident that took place in the French port city of Calais on Halloween night in 2002.
During last week’s court hearing, his defence counsel said O'Connor maintains he wasn’t the one who perpetrated the assault that led to the death and he was only a co-accused in the matter.
He received a 20-year sentence which was reduced to 12 years and he was permanently banished from the French district.
He served the prison sentence in France before returning to live in Clonmel.
Throughout his life, he has been convicted of crimes in France, the UK and Ireland, many of which were armed robberies.
He has spent upwards of 30 years of his 63 years of life in prison or detention.
In recent years he was living in Clonmel and was receiving a carer's allowance for providing care to a family member.
The court was told last week that O’Connor doesn’t drink and has no addiction issues.
He has been in custody in relation to the jewellery theft from Waterford since January 2024. A Governor’s Report outlines that he has displayed good behaviour to staff and other prisoners whilst incarcerated.
William O'Connor pleaded guilty to Section 14 Robbery, with counts of making threats to kill or cause harm and production of an article taken into consideration.
Judge Eugene O’Kelly presided over proceedings at Waterford Circuit Court last week.
William O’Connor was represented by defence barrister Mr. Colman Cody SC.
During the hearing, Mr. Cody acknowledged that the court was “dealing with a very serious matter.”
O’Connor penned a letter to the court apologising to the staff of Hallmark Jewellers and members of the public who witnessed the event.
He said he was “so ashamed” and claimed that at the time of the incident he was under pressure to pay back money he owed to people who were threatening members of his family. Mr Cody said that his client owed money towards his legal fees in France.
Mr Cody asked Judge O’Kelly to consider in mitigation his client’s guilty plea, preventing a jury trial, which could have used up two or three weeks of the court’s time.
The employee of the barber shop in the shopping centre, who attempted to apprehend O’Connor on the day of the incident, submitted a Victim Impact Statement to the court. In it, he said that O’Connor did more than steal jewellery, he also stole his “peace of mind”.
He said that the incident had significant psychological impacts on him and he is now constantly vigilant.
Judge O’Kelly said the man was “extremely brave” for attempting to stop the suspect on the day.
Providing his view on the matter before handing down a sentence, Judge O’Kelly said that O’Connor produced a “deadly” and “lethal” weapon during the robbery.
He said there were significant levels of premeditation involved and that the wider community were impacted by the crime due to the public nature of the incident.
He described O’Connor as a “violent criminal”.
William O’Connor was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The sentence will be backdated to the date that he entered custody in January 2024.
