Criminal in hospital after jail gang attack

A NOTORIOUS Cork armed robber was last night hospitalised with serious head injuries after being beaten up by a gang of prisoners in Cork Prison.

Mayfield native Niall Fitzpatrick was set upon by up to six fellow inmates in the yard of the prison shortly after 6pm.

Before officers could intervene he was severely beaten. He was rushed to Cork University Hospital. Sources said he was in “bad enough” condition.

Fitzpatrick, who is in his 40s, had only been in the prison for a short time before the attack.

It is understood that he was arrested in recent days for public order offences after becoming involved in a fight in a popular city centre nightclub.

The man described by gardaí as one of the most dangerous and feared armed robbers in Cork city had only been out of prison on temporary release. Therefore, once arrested he was immediately brought to the prison.

He had previously been sentenced to eight years in jail for his part in the armed robbery of Farran Post Office on December 13, 2001. Over £8,000 was taken in the raid.

During the incident a gun was pointed at the head of the post office manager.

Fitzpatrick had previously burgled a house in Carrigaline, Co Cork, and stolen the keys for a €50,000 Saab car parked outside which he used a fortnight later in the Farran robbery.

During the trial for the robbery, Judge Patrick J Moran heard that a probation report described him as institutionalised, having been in and out of prison a lot over the past 20 years.

A few months later he was given two more years on top of the eight-year sentence for being in possession of a stolen motorbike.

He has been nicknamed “Houdini” after he made headlines by escaping from custody on three separate occasions. During one such escape he managed to jump a partition and run out of Cork District Court behind Judge Uinsin MacGruairc when the court was still in session.

He had previously escaped from Garda custody when he was being transported to prison from Macroom District Court after being charged with unlawfully using a stolen car.

On that occasion he remained at large for six days before being rearrested and returned to Cork Prison.

He was previously jailed in 1999 after ramming a Garda car while trying to evade arrest.

He served two years of a five-year sentence and was released after a Circuit Court review in 2001.