Athlone woman uses iPhone to track down thief

High-tech detective work by an Athlone woman led to the arrest of a thief who smashed the window of her family's rental car and made off with an array of valuables. Niamh Sheffield was on holiday in the Costa del Sol when the car break-in occurred. However, she subsequently used her iPhone to earn a measure of justice by tracking down the thief at a hostel some 50 miles away. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent on Friday last, the mother-of-two recounted the dramatic series of events. A senior radiographer at St Vincent's Care Centre in Athlone, she is the wife of George Sheffield, the proprietor of Sheffield's Jewellers on Church Street. She travelled to Spain on Saturday morning, November 26, hoping for a relaxing short break with her sister Tríona and their parents, Ina and Simon Cavanagh. But not long after their arrival, while they were eating at a coastal restaurant in Marbella, a thief shattered the window of their rental car and made off with their possessions, including Niamh's mother's jewellery and three Apple iPads. They immediately contacted the police in Marbella who, Niamh said, "had no English and were quite uninterested" in helping to solve the crime. After eventually succeeding in making a police statement, Niamh and her family went to a shopping centre where an Apple store had recently opened. "I knew there was a way I could link my iPhone to my iPad," she said, and after consulting with a friendly staff member in the Apple store, they succeeded in tracing the iPad to a hostel in Torremolinos. The following day, Sunday, they travelled to Torremolinos, where the local police were more helpful. Using the Google Translate internet programme, she communicated the details to them and they accompanied her to the hostel where the iPad was located. "I then activated an alarm on my iPhone with my iPad, and the police were able to locate the room where it was beeping. Then they waited for the thief to return. A few hours later he returned, wearing my Dad's stolen jacket, and they arrested him." On Monday, Niamh was required to attend a court hearing over the matter. The police then obtained a warrant to search the hostel and, as a result of this, they managed to retrieve some of her family's possessions on Tuesday, including their iPads and clothing. Some jewellery and other items have not been recovered. After retrieving the iPads, Niamh and Triona noticed that the thief had been using them to browse the internet - and had forgotten to log out of his facebook account. "My sister and I used Google Translate to post some choice status updates on his facebook account. So that was our revenge, and it made us laugh." Niamh returned to Ireland last Wednesday, having done "nothing nice and touristy" during her entire stay in Spain. "It was an experience never to be forgotten, and hopefully never to be repeated!" she said.