{"id":426253,"date":"2026-05-01T03:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/426253\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T03:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:36:14","slug":"e1-4m-raid-on-irish-billionaires-mansion-after-break-in-through-open-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/426253\/","title":{"rendered":"\u20ac1.4m raid on Irish billionaire’s mansion after break in through open window"},"content":{"rendered":"

A career burglar entered through an open window and stole about \u20ac188,000 in valuables during a series of break ins at Irish billionaire Paul Coulson’s London home.\"File<\/p>\n

File photo from 2017 of Ardagh Group Chairman Paul Coulson(Image: AP)<\/p>\n

One of several burglars who ransacked an Irish billionaire\u2019s London<\/a> home gained access to the property by climbing through an open window, a court has heard.<\/p>\n

Paul Coulson\u2019s townhouse in Knightsbridge was burgled repeatedly <\/a>in the space of just four days in December last year, with thieves getting away with an estimated \u00a31.25 million (\u20ac1.45m) in cash, jewellery, designer clothes and luxury handbags.<\/p>\n

One of the culprits, Ali Lamnouar, walked away with an estimated \u00a3163,000 (\u20ac188,686) in valuables \u2013 only two years after having burgled the London home of Sir George Iacobescu, the former chairman and chief executive of the Canary Wharf Group, the court heard.<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old, of Gatliff Road in Westminster, was sentenced to five years and two months\u2019 imprisonment at Southwark Crown Court <\/a>on Thursday.<\/p>\n

His barrister Daniel Higgins told the judge Lamnouar\u2019s offences were opportunistic in nature, and that he gained entry to Mr Coulson\u2019s \u00a38.7 million (\u20ac10.7m) townhouse through an \u201copen window\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took the opportunity on each occasions and undertook the offence \u2013 there was no significant planning,\u201d Mr Higgins said, adding Lamnouar left the scene of the crime \u201con foot\u201d.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Roxanne Whittaker-Lewis told the court a housekeeper locked up the Coulson townhouse at around 6pm on December 5 2025.<\/p>\n

When she returned to the property at around 9.30am on December 8, she found a basement window open and the house ransacked.<\/p>\n

Two years prior on October 27 2023, Lamnouar broke into the home of Sir George Iacobescu while he was in his basement watching TV.<\/p>\n

Sir George felt a cold draught in the room and, upon going to the ground floor to investigate, found that \u201call the windows were open and there had been an untidy search and ransacking,\u201d judge Justin Cole, sentencing, told the court.<\/p>\n

Lamnouar stole four luxury watches valued between \u00a35,000 (\u20ac5,787) and \u00a312,000 (\u20ac13,891), as well as cash \u2013 but judge Cole said the exact total value of items stolen then had yet to be determined.<\/p>\n

Judge Cole told Lamnouar his criminal record \u2013 which includes 30 previous convictions for burglary, and a firearms offence for which he received an 11-year prison sentence in 2013 \u2013 was \u201cappalling\u201d, but gave him credit for his guilty pleas.<\/p>\n

Mr Coulson is the founder of the Ardagh group, a global packaging supplier, and is one of Ireland\u2019s wealthiest people with a fortune valued in 2021 at 2.8 billion dollars (\u20ac2.39bn).<\/p>\n

\"Ardagh<\/p>\n

Ardagh Group Chairman Paul Coulson, second from right, is applauded as he rings the New York Stock Exchange opening bell to celebrate his company’s IPO, Wednesday, March 15, 2017.(Image: AP Photo\/Richard Drew)<\/p>\n

His townhouse, which is close to the grounds of Buckingham Palace, was broken into repeatedly in December last year, with Lamnouar getting caught on CCTV twice entering the property on December 5 and leaving with large holdalls, a previous hearing was told.<\/p>\n

He was initially accused of being responsible for stealing all of the goods, valued at \u00a31.25 million (\u20ac1.45), which went missing from Mr Coulson\u2019s home.<\/p>\n

But prosecutors later said they could only be sure he stole possessions such as jewellery, designer handbags and clothes valued at \u00a3163,835 (\u20ac189,652) when they realised the home had been burgled a second time just days later.<\/p>\n

The court previously heard stolen goods were found at his home, including designer coats, dresses and jackets, as well as handbags by Prada, Chanel and YSL, including one valued at \u00a314,000 (\u20ac16,206), a \u00a34,500 (\u20ac5,209) Cartier love bracelet, pearl earrings, a \u00a323,500 (\u20ac27,203) necklace, and a ring worth \u00a329,000 (\u20ac33,569).<\/p>\n

Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A career burglar entered through an open window and stole about \u20ac188,000 in valuables during a series of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[24698,54,61,60,99,112],"class_list":["post-426253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-burglary","tag-courts","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-london","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}