Hurling star gives chase to high-speed car thief

Kilkenny hurling captain D.J. Carey yesterday told how he became involved in a high speed chase with a thief who stole his car from the forecourt of a Kildare petrol station.

The hurler had around €6,000 in the car at the time, €2,000 of which has not yet been recovered. Mr Carey said the money in his car had come from people for whom he had obtained tickets for Kilkenny's All-Ireland semi-final with Tipperary last Sunday. Some of the money also related to his business activities.

Mr Carey's business sells cleaning products to pubs, garages, factories and schools. He said he had intended to lodge the money at a bank but had been "tight for time".

Mr Carey eventually retrieved his €50,000 5 Series BMW in the car-park of a Celbridge pub, where he spotted the thief.

The events began on Thursday afternoon. Mr Carey stopped off at Crookstown service station on the Ballitore by-pass in Co Kildare on his way back from Dublin for training with the Kilkenny hurlers.

After filling his car with fuel, he walked into the station's shop to pay, leaving the keys in the ignition. When he emerged from the shop his car was gone, he told RTÉ 1's Today With Pat Kenny show yesterday.

"I came out and I said to myself 'where did I park it?' Then I looked left and the car is speeding up the road."

The All-Ireland-winning hurler jumped into a car owned by another customer at the garage and the pair chased Carey's vehicle towards Straffan and Barberstown.

They also phoned gardaí who joined the chase, in a patrol car and in the Garda helicopter.

"We followed him and caught up with the car without making too much noise and the police car then caught up with us. But I think that spooked him and he really put the boot down.

"Obviously a three-litre diesel car can move so he was driving fierce erratically up the motorway and on inside lanes, outside lanes, grass margins, zig-zagging, the whole lot," Mr Carey said. The thief was approached, because of his dangerous driving, by a motorist in Clane, but he performed a u-turn and fled. Mr Carey said his car then "went to ground".

He and his sister then drove around Kildare before they finally spotted the car in a pub car-park in Celbridge. When he approached the driver a crowd gathered around.

The man jumped into a waiting vehicle. Mr Carey tried to take the keys from the ignition but the car and its occupants left Celbridge at speed. Despite failing to catch the thief he said: "I'd rather jump into a grave than not have a go."

Around €2,000 in the car was taken, but another €4,000 in the boot of the vehicle was untouched. Mr Carey also had a valuable watch and two mobile phones in his car. The phones were taken.

Mr Carey said gardaí at Celbridge were following a definite line of inquiry.

It was the second time in recent months Mr Carey has been the victim of crime. The day after the Leinster Hurling final in July he was at a celebrity golf challenge and had parked his car at the Berkeley Court Hotel in Dublin.

On that occasion he was driving a vehicle supplied by Citroen. A window in the vehicle was smashed and mobile phones were taken along with a set of golf clubs and a substantial sum of money.