A raider smashed through the glass hatch at a post office counter with a sledgehammer as terrified staff huddled for cover in a corner, an inquest heard today.

Terrified staff and customers feared for their lives during a foiled armed robbery at a village post office in which two raiders were shot dead, an inquest heard today.

An inquest into the deaths of two men killed during a foiled post office raid in Lusk, Co Dublin, two years ago will open today.