Violent home invader jailed

A violent criminal who barged his way into the homes of multiple victims before robbing and assaulting them has been jailed for more than 20 years.

Martin McDonagh repeatedly targeted older, more vulnerable victims and on one occasion a woman living alone with her children.

Each of the homeowners he targeted were threatened with weapons while he ransacked their properties for items.

Three Nottingham households were robbed by McDonagh during a three-month crime spree where he also burgled five more addresses.

The first robbery took place in Radford on 8 February where he barged his way through the door and while brandishing a screwdriver.

A man was then pushed to the ground and assaulted, with McDonagh continuing to threaten the occupants with the weapon as he pocketed jewellery and bank cards.

The 51-year-old followed this up by carrying out two more robberies on back-to-back days in March.  

The first saw McDonagh invite himself into a Basford-based property on 24 March, before pretending to be a gas engineer when he was discovered.

While he was telling this lie, he made his way to the kitchen, where he grabbed a knife and pointed it at the homeowner, who he pushed to the floor.

The address was subsequently ransacked by McDonagh, who helped himself to any amounts of cash he could find before fleeing from the scene.

Once again armed with a knife, McDonagh targeted a third Nottingham home a day later (25 March) – this time ringing the doorbell and waiting for someone to answer.   

He then charged in, while waving the weapon around, with one person thrown to the floor, while another was forced to hand over their belongings.

A bag containing large quantities of cash, a camera, phone, and bank cards were all taken by the intruder, who then ran out of the door.

These two robberies were sandwiched in between three burglaries McDonagh was also responsible for, on 22, 28 and 29 March.

Jewellery, bank cards and a range of different items were taken, including the keys for cars parked outside two properties, which were subsequently stolen too.

He also broke into two more homes in January – helping himself to jewellery, pushbikes, and cash – while pocketing more than £150 worth of items from a shop in February.

McDonagh’s offending wasn’t just limited to Nottinghamshire, however, with one of his most shocking offences taking place in Derbyshire on 11 May 2023 when he and another man targeted a woman in her bedroom. With her baby crying in its cot, she was threatened with a saucepan and had her bed covers pulled over her head as jewellery was taken from her.

McDonagh followed this up on 18 May by leading police on a lengthy pursuit that started in Nuthall, looped around Kimberley, and ended in Bulwell.

He drove in an erratic and dangerous manner throughout, repeatedly travelling at speed towards oncoming traffic, before eventually coming to a halt after crashing into two cars.

McDonagh, formerly of Hucknall Road, Basford, was charged with and pleaded guilty to a catalogue of different offences by the time he attended Nottingham Crown Court to be sentenced.

This included four counts of robbery, one attempted robbery, five burglaries, dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking, theft of motor vehicles, a shop theft, and driving while disqualified.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on today (27 November), he was categorised as a dangerous offender and given an extended 27 year sentence – 22 years in custody with an extended five year licence period.

He was, his defence counsel said, extremely remorseful for his actions which had been driven by his addiction to drugs.

Detective Inspector Chris Berryman, of Nottinghamshire Police, said:

"McDonagh is a large and powerful man who deliberately chose to target mainly old and vulnerable people.

“Once inside their homes he resorted to an utterly disproportionate level of violence and aggression that has unsurprisingly had a very significant impact on his victims, some of whom no longer feel safe in their own homes.

“McDonagh was very clearly a danger to the public, which is why we offered a very significant cash reward for information leading to his capture.

“I am pleased he has now been held to account and that the public will be protected from him for a very long time to come.

“As McDonagh starts this very long prison sentence I would like to thank the many officers from the various CID teams who worked around the clock to catch him and provided much needed support to his victims.”