"Opportunistic" thief stole €2K from Pygmalion, Dublin
A prolific thief, who has now moved to Dublin from the UK, has been jailed for three years after he broke into popular Dublin bar, Pygmalion.
Christopher Longworth (46), of Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7, and previously of Huddersfield in the UK, but now with an address in Dublin, has 57 previous convictions in Ireland and 40 from the UK.
Christopher Longworth
Longworth was previously jailed by Leeds Crown Court after he stole a bracelet from a man in his sixties after pretending to help him as he was choking.
This morning, before Judge Orla Crowe at the Circuit Criminal Court, he pleaded guilty to one count of burglary in respect of a break-in at Pygmalion, South William Street, Dublin, just before 5 am on the 14th of August 2025.
Garda Robert Hopkins of Pearse Street Garda Station assisted Conor McKenna BL, prosecuting, in outlining the facts before the court.
Mr McKenna said that the General Manager of the bar alerted Gardaí to the break-in, saying that a till containing over 2,000 in cash had been taken, along with three bottles of alcohol.
The court heard that another party, who remains unknown, watched from outside the premises as Longworth made his way inside under a shutter, before CCTV captured him walking across the bar’s floor space and taking the till drawer, which he hid under a jacket outside.
The court heard that none of the stolen property was recovered. Longworth has Irish convictions for theft, trespass with a knife, possession of stolen property, robbery, burglary, and using a mobile phone in jail.
In the UK, he has 20 convictions for theft, six for burglary, two for criminal damage, one for racial intentional harassment, and two related to controlled drugs.
Defending counsel, Colum Hennessy BL, argued that his client’s offending was “opportunistic” and that the CCTV “shows him literally walking through the floor space in the bar, going to the counter, and picking up the till.”
He argued that there was “no ransacking” of the property and that the accused had presented “no difficulties” while in custody.
Mr Hennessy said that the accused had decided to move back to Ireland after the death of his partner, which was followed three months later by the death of his father.
Longworth describes himself as the “carer” for his brother, who is 11 years his junior and is committed to looking after him, Mr Hennessy said.
Mr Hennessy argued that his client does not remember the incident and that he says he “took some pills which he thought were painkillers” and consumed alcohol. He added that Longworth “got off heroin years ago” and that, “He hasn’t had a great life, but I’m not putting this up as a sob story” as “he’s getting on with it”.
Judge Crowe said that the theft involved “a considerable amount of cash” and that the accused was under the auspices of a suspended sentence at the time.
The court noted that the accused has “a considerable amount of offending since returning to the jurisdiction” and that his last recorded offence in the UK was on the 14th of June 2024, before he “seamlessly started to offend” with a conviction recorded in Ireland on the 9th of August 2024.
Longworth was sentenced to three years in jail.
