A man who carried out a spate of hotel robberies while posing as a well-spoken British guest before fleeing the country for 20 years has been given a 10-year suspended sentence.
The court heard that he had married, raised a family and led a pro-social life in those two decades, and that this was “his past coming back to haunt him”.
Darren White (49), with an address at Belmayne Park, Dublin 17, was before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court where he pleaded guilty to 13 counts of cash robbery at Dublin city hotels between August and December 2005 and to one count of robbery of a Londis shop the following year. The value of cash ranged from €50 in one hotel to €900 in another.
Judge Martina Baxter said there had been a clear element of planning in the offences, which targeted individuals, mostly young women on their own, and in some cases involved the use of or threat of a weapon. She noted White had been a drug addict at the time of the offending and had no prior convictions.
She said after pleading guilty to the offences, he failed to appear on his sentence date and instead travelled to the UK, before returning some years later and starting a family. Testimonials outlined he was also working and engaged in voluntary work in his community.
She noted his recourse, victim awareness and insight. She said he was clean of drugs and had made substantial changes in his life. He is at low risk of reoffending.
The judge said that at this point a custodial term was not appropriate, having regard to the breath of his rehabilitation, and imposed a 10-year sentence, which she suspended for 10 years and ordered him to carry out 240 hours community service.
Garda Maurice Cunningham told the sentence hearing that White only came to garda attention again in April 2025 when he was in court on a road traffic matter.
Cunningham explained that, for the most part, White had engaged with the receptionists, inquiring about rooms and telling them he was in Dublin to erect lighting for concerts. He had often left by the time they noticed cash missing from a drawer or cash box.
However, on other occasions, he was upfront about what he was doing and put the receptionists in fear but usually remained quiet and calm.
White usually acted alone, but at 9.40pm on September 6th, he entered the Clarence Hotel with an accomplice.
The receptionist told gardaí that one of the men took out a large weapon like a machete and waved it at her. She stepped backwards but cornered herself against a wall and had nowhere else to go.
“He held it within an inch of me,” she told gardaí.
She was told that they were taking the money and not to scream. The second man went behind the reception desk and took €900 from a drawer.
After a number of robberies were reported, gardaí began handing out flyers showing a picture of White to hotels in the city.
The court was told that he was in his early 30s when he committed the robberies, addicted to heroin and had a drug debt.
He was working freelance in the event lighting industry when he developed an addiction to heroin in his early 20s.
“I’d like to apologise and say sorry to all the victims. I have remorse for what I did,” he said.
The court heard that he was married by the time he pleaded guilty in court in July 2007. A few months later, he and his wife moved to the UK, where they raised six children and he worked in film and television.
They returned to Ireland following Brexit and set up their family home in Belmayne, where he became involved in community activities, assisting with local football clubs and playing Santa and the Easter bunny for a local group.
The judge asked him why he hadn’t turned up for sentencing.
“I’ll be honest, I got scared of going to jail,” he said. “I didn’t want to go back into an environment where I was going to be around drugs, and I thought the best thing was to be away from my old network.”