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 was threatened with weapons while he ransacked their properties.
At Nottingham Crown Court today, McDonagh was categorised as a dangerous offender and given an extended 27-year sentence.
He must serve 22 years in custody with an extended five-year licence period.
"McDonagh is a large and powerful man who deliberately chose to target mainly old and vulnerable people," said Detective Inspector Chris Berryman of Nottinghamshire Police.
Knife
Three Nottingham households were robbed by McDonagh during a three-month crime spree in which he also burgled five more addresses.
The first robbery took place in Radford on February 8 when he barged through a door 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.
McDonagh, 51, 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 March 24, 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.
Once again armed with a knife, McDonagh targeted a third Nottingham home a day later, 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 and another forced to hand over their belongings.
A bag containing large quantities of cash, a camera, a phone and bank cards were all taken.
These two robberies were sandwiched in between three burglaries McDonagh was also responsible for on March 22, 28 and 29.
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.
McDonagh 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.
Baby crying
McDonagh's offending wasn't just limited to Nottinghamshire, however, with one of his most shocking offences taking place in Derbyshire.
On May 11, 2023, 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 May 18 by leading police on a lengthy pursuit, driving in an erratic and dangerous manner and repeatedly travelling at speed towards oncoming traffic.
He eventually came to a halt after crashing into two cars.
McDonagh, formerly of Hucknall Road, Basford, Nottingham, was charged with and pleaded guilty to a catalogue of different offences.
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.
'Disproportionate level of violence'
At today's sentencing, McDonagh's defence counsel said that his client was extremely remorseful for his actions, which had been driven by his addiction to drugs.
However, DI Berryman said he was pleased to see McDonagh behind bars 'for a very long time to come'.
"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," he said.
"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."
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