Accomplice wore dress but forgot to shave before bank raid

One in a dress and the other in an ill-fitting suit, two men tried to rob a building society in what was described in court as a “shambolic operation”.

Martin Collins, aged 21, and his accomplice made an appointment with the manager. He was wearing the bad suit. His accomplice, though dressed as a woman, was unshaven and wearing a poor quality, black wig.

Their story: The “woman” had been awarded €2.9m by the State and wanted to invest it.

Collins, of Neilstown Gardens, Clondalkin pleaded guilty to attempted robbery at Permanent TSB on Lower Kilmadcud Road, Stillorgan, on Oct 20, 2010. His co-accused is to face trial later in the year.

Garda David L’Estrange told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court the manager of the building society, Michael Doyle, received a phonecall from a woman with a strong Dublin accent wanting to make an appointment for her brother and sister, claiming the sister had over €2m and wanted to buy a house.

Mr Doyle and the assistant manager met the pair. Collins pushed his co-accused into the manager’s office, leaving the wheelchair facing the door.

The co-accused in the wheelchair then stood up and produced what Mr Doyle thought was a shotgun.

The co-accused shouted “get down on the floor” and Mr Doyle realised it was a male, with an unshaven face, dressed as a woman.

Mr Doyle told gardaí he realised then the weapon was a hatchet made to look like a gun. “Would you ever fuck off”, he shouted at the raiders before telling them to “stop being stupid”.

Collins, who has 55 previous convictions, produced a similar weapon and struck the manager on the back of the leg, causing him to bleed.

Both men ran from the building society empty-handed to a waiting car and sped off towards Blackrock. They were arrested a short time later.

Garda L’Estrange agreed with defence counsel James Dwyer that the co-accused appeared to be the “mastermind of the operation”.

“It was frightening but not professionally carried out. It was a shambolic operation,” said Mr Dwyer.

He said Collins left school at 13 and had a drug and alcohol problem since the age of 15 but was now drug free.

Judge Martin Nolan noted that some violence was used but said that there was “some hope of rehabilitation” for Collins while he was in prison.