Suspicious man in Castletown Estate (Demense), Celbridge - beware

RayCon

I don't want to alarm anyone who uses the grounds of Castletown estate for jogging/walking etc however I feel it's important to share the following information/story with residents/users of the area.

My wife and I regularly jog/walk around the Castletown estate (as do many others), mostly in the mornings. This morning, 26th May, at approx 10am my wife was walking alone on her way home, when about half way down the drive (walking in the direction of the village), near the old gate/wall that you can hop over if you wanted to cut across the field to the Woodlands estate, she noticed a man behind the trees staring at her. He was dressed in tight running bottoms and a navy blue hoody, with the hood up and strings pulled tight so it was almost covering his eyes. He was staring at her and reached behind his back as if to grab something from his bottoms / small of his back area.
She was startled, paused for a sec, removed her earphones and keeping him in her sights, started to run towards the village entrance and ultimately home. Luckily there was a man coming towards her walking his dog.

My wife is not easily spooked however when she got home she was visibly shaken by the incident and her gut instinct was telling her that something wasn't right about the man. We went to Celbridge Garda station and reported what had happened. They said they would send a squad car around to review the area and took our contact details.

This was bugging me when we got back from the Garda station so at approx. 10.30am I went for a walk through the Woodlands Estate and cut into the field through the trees at the back. I walked through the field and cut onto the main Castletown Estate drive. I looked in the direction of the old gate/wall and to my shock there was a man - exactly as my wife described - navy hoody, hood up - pulled tight, black running bottoms and white running shoes, standing behind the trees. He saw me and immediately acted out a quick leg stretch and started to jog off in the direction of the Village. I walked after him , me on the main drive, him behind the trees that run parallel but he went out of sight. Im assuming he hopped the gate and went into the field that separates the main drive from the Woodlands Estate. When I got to the gate I did the same , but couldn't see where he went. There are lots of overgrown bushes / hedges / mounds in that field so he could have been anywhere. I decided to go back home.

I got home and told my wife what Id seen. We decided we'd both go back (approx. 11am) and this time go up to the Castletown House to inform the security guards that work in the grounds. Again, we cut through the Woodlands estate, through the field and onto the main drive and shockingly - again - he was there - back behind the trees. This time he was staring at 2 women who were walking along the drive, near where he was hiding. Luckily there was a good few other poeple around too - dog walkers etc. We made our way up to the house and found a security guard. When we told him the story he said "we've had problems last week too. A female jogger reported an incident at the other entrance to the Estate - the car park end. There was a man staring at her from the wooded area. She had stopped to tie her shoelace and when she looked up she saw a man staring at her and he seemed to mouth the words "tut tut tut". We were shocked! ... He said he'd go in and ring the Celbridge Garda station. We said "tell them the guy is down there now - it the same area - he hasn't moved from the general area in the last hour". We went back home.
This evening we received a phonecall from the Garda station to say they had sent 2 plain clothes Garda to the area and they had confronted a man fitting the description still in the same area. He bolted and they gave chase but they lost him as he ran into the housing estate (they didn't say which road). They will be keeping watch in the area and have asked that people report any suspicious activities as a matter of urgency.
I would say the man is tall, around 6'1" - 6'2", slender build, possibly late 20's / early 30's
Please pass onto anybody you know who uses the Castletown Estate - especially females who would normally exercise / walk alone.

Beruthiel

RayCon wrote:

This evening we received a phonecall from the Garda station to say they had sent 2 plain clothes Garda to the area and they had confronted a man fitting the description still in the same area. He bolted and they gave chase but they lost him as he ran into the housing estate (they didn't say which road).

Can we conclude that he lives in Castletown then as he was able to disappear so quickly?
That is very worrying.

RayCon

Beruthiel wrote: »

Can we conclude that he lives in Castletown then as he was able to disappear so quickly?
That is very worrying.

Not sure, maybe he hid in a garden then left by car ?? .... I posted the same info on a Kildare Discussion Forum, Celbridge section ... seems there's been other incidents ... see here :

http://campbells.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1253

RayCon

It's very hard not to get panic'd and sensationalist about this, calmness is always required however it's scarey to think that incidents are happening yet people aren't being informed.

I see there are Garda notices recently put up in the carpark , advising people to make sure there cars are locked, window shut etc - can't see why there isn't advice circulated about this type of issue too.

yosser hughes

Fair play to you and your wife for following this up etc.Though I must admit I had a feeling of "The Famous Five" about it.
It's creepy. Not sure what can be done though unless he is caught actually attacking someone. Still well done on warning others.

RayCon

yosser hughes wrote: »

Though I must admit I had a feeling of "The Famous Five" about it.

I'll have you know we're strictly "The Three Investigators" in our house

Beruthiel

RayCon wrote: »

I'll have you know we're strictly "The Three Investigators" in our house

LOL
I read every one of those as a young teenager!

martinmcdonnell

My wife was approached last week while running there by a guy of the same description,luckily he ran away when he spotted someone else behind her.I have started running with her now,and if she points him out to me I'm gonna put that pervert to sleep!

ChewChew

This is just awful. My mam walks there every day, and she comes out by the carpark and down by the applegreen. She told me today that although the times she goes walking, castletown avenue always has traffic, behind the house and at the carpark area does now, so now she wont/cant go walking there anymore. This is just so sad! I hate this sort of crap going on.

jcap

Is this some sick person making this up????? I trang Celb gardai and they know nthing seriously this is so not funny if its made up

Gregsor

jcap wrote: »

Is this some sick person making this up????? I trang Celb gardai and they know nthing seriously this is so not funny if its made up

What do you think

fasttalkerchat

jcap wrote: »

Is this some sick person making this up????? I trang Celb gardai and they know nthing seriously this is so not funny if its made up

Gards probably didn't bother to make a record of it. Wouldn't rely on them to sort it.

Dee42

Thanks Raycon for making an effort to do something about this and making people aware of it.

fonda

jcap wrote: »

Is this some sick person making this up????? I trang Celb gardai and they know nthing seriously this is so not funny if its made up

I think I'll believe Raycon and his over 900 posts as opposed to you who joined the site yesterday and has 1 post!

WIZE

I live in Casltetown also

I will keep an eye out for this dude .

RayCon

newera wrote: »

I am from castletown myself and I too have experienced weird and stalkerish guys in my time. There are alot of hidden cctv cameras in the surroundings of the house. Was the guy you saw in the "rally" part of the premises? The rally is just beside the house and onfront of the farm. If so there should be footage.

Just to be clear ... the incident Im talking about happened about half way up the drive, left hand side ...

jcap

Well fonda just because I registered yesterday and only have one post that does not make a difference, oh by the way if u believe this then why is it celbridge gardai know nothing about it and they never sent down 2 guards in plain clothes is what they told Me on The phone last night so yeah I think im entitled to ask the question whether I only joined and only have 2 post

qwytre

In fairness the OP and two other people on this thread have confirmed, what more do you need?

wobbles

Do you own tight running bottoms and a navy blue hoody Jcap?

WIZE

jcap wrote: »

Well fonda just because I registered yesterday and only have one post that does not make a difference, oh by the way if u believe this then why is it celbridge gardai know nothing about it and they never sent down 2 guards in plain clothes is what they told Me on The phone last night so yeah I think im entitled to ask the question whether I only joined and only have 2 post

Jesus Jcap

The OP came here to warn People living in the Area about some dodgy Character

You dont believe it so you dont need to be suspicious .

Carry on with your life and be safe

RayCon

Look, I can only confirm what the Garda said to us. Maybe they lied to us to calm us down, maybe they didn't confirm it to other people phoning them about it because they don't want to start wide spread panic - I don't pretend to understand the motives/actions of the Garda. Either way, all I was saying is be careful ....

P.S. Im not the only one to have reported this ... other people have confirmed similar incidents.

fonda

wobbles wrote: »

Do you own tight running bottoms and a navy blue hoody Jcap?

Exactly what I was thinking.

the_syco

RayCon wrote: »

Just to be clear ... the incident Im talking about happened about half way up the drive, left hand side ...

Would that be near the entrance into Castletown Estate?

lauralale3

RayCon wrote: »

I don't want to alarm anyone who uses the grounds of Castletown estate for jogging/walking etc however I feel it's important to share the following information/story with residents/users of the area.

My wife and I regularly jog/walk around the Castletown estate (as do many others), mostly in the mornings. This morning, 26th May, at approx 10am my wife was walking alone on her way home, when about half way down the drive (walking in the direction of the village), near the old gate/wall that you can hop over if you wanted to cut across the field to the Woodlands estate, she noticed a man behind the trees staring at her. He was dressed in tight running bottoms and a navy blue hoody, with the hood up and strings pulled tight so it was almost covering his eyes. He was staring at her and reached behind his back as if to grab something from his bottoms / small of his back area.
She was startled, paused for a sec, removed her earphones and keeping him in her sights, started to run towards the village entrance and ultimately home. Luckily there was a man coming towards her walking his dog.

My wife is not easily spooked however when she got home she was visibly shaken by the incident and her gut instinct was telling her that something wasn't right about the man. We went to Celbridge Garda station and reported what had happened. They said they would send a squad car around to review the area and took our contact details.

This was bugging me when we got back from the Garda station so at approx. 10.30am I went for a walk through the Woodlands Estate and cut into the field through the trees at the back. I walked through the field and cut onto the main Castletown Estate drive. I looked in the direction of the old gate/wall and to my shock there was a man - exactly as my wife described - navy hoody, hood up - pulled tight, black running bottoms and white running shoes, standing behind the trees. He saw me and immediately acted out a quick leg stretch and started to jog off in the direction of the Village. I walked after him , me on the main drive, him behind the trees that run parallel but he went out of sight. Im assuming he hopped the gate and went into the field that separates the main drive from the Woodlands Estate. When I got to the gate I did the same , but couldn't see where he went. There are lots of overgrown bushes / hedges / mounds in that field so he could have been anywhere. I decided to go back home.

I got home and told my wife what Id seen. We decided we'd both go back (approx. 11am) and this time go up to the Castletown House to inform the security guards that work in the grounds. Again, we cut through the Woodlands estate, through the field and onto the main drive and shockingly - again - he was there - back behind the trees. This time he was staring at 2 women who were walking along the drive, near where he was hiding. Luckily there was a good few other poeple around too - dog walkers etc. We made our way up to the house and found a security guard. When we told him the story he said "we've had problems last week too. A female jogger reported an incident at the other entrance to the Estate - the car park end. There was a man staring at her from the wooded area. She had stopped to tie her shoelace and when she looked up she saw a man staring at her and he seemed to mouth the words "tut tut tut". We were shocked! ... He said he'd go in and ring the Celbridge Garda station. We said "tell them the guy is down there now - it the same area - he hasn't moved from the general area in the last hour". We went back home.
This evening we received a phonecall from the Garda station to say they had sent 2 plain clothes Garda to the area and they had confronted a man fitting the description still in the same area. He bolted and they gave chase but they lost him as he ran into the housing estate (they didn't say which road). They will be keeping watch in the area and have asked that people report any suspicious activities as a matter of urgency.
I would say the man is tall, around 6'1" - 6'2", slender build, possibly late 20's / early 30's
Please pass onto anybody you know who uses the Castletown Estate - especially females who would normally exercise / walk alone.

I was also approached by a man around 6'1" black balding hair he was in the bushes at the back of Castletown the long road before you reach Castletown I was jogging and suddenly he came out of the bushes i started walking slowly as he started coming towards me he looked behind him then looked behind me and put his hands on his hips shook his head and said "tut tut tut" as if to say you silly girl she shouldn't be on your own, I was terrified he kept walking towards me looking around all the time, suddenly he stopped and looked behind me then took a step back my next door neighbour had just come around the corner I waved at her and he stepped back again so I ran off as fast as I could, before turning the corner I stopped to make sure she was ok as she passed the man he crouched on the floor with his hands over his head as if to say don't hit me then 3 other women started walking up and he went back into the bushes. I reported it to the Garda station and they said they would send a patrol car around to have look, please be careful everyone it was a scary experience.

Arciphel

Unbelievable that a creep like this is out there. What are the guards playing at?

Tallon

I might pop down later and see if I can see him...

Paul_501

Interesting... Could have sworn I heard a very similar story of a chap with his hood pulled tight to his eyes...

A mentally unstable person perhaps?

minimoocher

I too have seen this man a few weeks back same guy hood up and hanging around the pillar half way up the walk heading towards the house on the left hand side, i was very spooked and initially thought he was after my bike as he pretended to answer his phone as i cycled past although his phone didn't ring, he kept staring at me until i was out of sight. Last year i rang the guards about a guy in the same area hanging around the trees watching girls going by although i can't be certain this is the same man as it was nearly a year ago.. but this guy from a few weeks ago is exactly the same description Raycon is talking about. I havn't been up to Castletown since and made myself go today for a cycle and i have to admit i was very cautious but there was a few ladies up there with ear phones on i hope by posting this they will be made aware that there is someone up to no good up there!!

bichon

Myself and another lad run in Castletown guite a bit and havent seen this guy but we have been commenting about 2 or 3 lads always drinking particularly when the sun is out. You would see them as you go up the drive from the main street end either on the right hand side or down by the river. On oaccasion we get some banter from them and they seem harmless enough but we noticed they get a little more agressive depending how many cans they have.

We warned our kids not to go there on their own at any stage just in case.

bulmersgal

I see those guys all the time when i'm walking that way, its disgusting drinking in public and there seems to be a crowd who drink at the bridge as well. Won't be going up to castletown till your man is found. I presume the guards aren't telling people over the phone in case it is the man himself ringing to see are they still looking for him

tvnutz

This story is on the front page of the Liffey Champion and this thread is mentioned as the source!