Raiders wielding gun and meat cleaver challenged by publican

A brave publican has spoken about how he stood in front of an armed robber who was pointing a gun straight at him and “called his bluff,” by challenging him to shoot him.

This was after the gunman had loaded a cartridge into the gun in front of him and customers.

Liam Hodson, 51, was serving behind the bar at the Marsh House pub in Drogheda when two men came, one with “a double barrel shotgun and the other had a meat cleaver”.

Within 15 minutes Liam, with the help of customers, had overpowered the man with the meat cleaver, but the gunman escaped.

The drama unfolded at 8.15 on Saturday evening in the low-key, old-style pub which has a loyal local trade. Liam described how the armed man went to one end of the small bar and the man with the cleaver went to the other and, “they had me fairly well covered”. Chillingly the man with the gun “loaded a cartridge into the shotgun and threatened to shoot me.”

At the same time the man with the meat cleaver was threatening to kill him and cut off his ear if he did not give them the takings from the till and from the safe.

The raiders got what is believed to be a small amount of cash, perhaps €200, from the till but Liam said he told them “I did not have the keys to the safe”.

“The man with the cleaver had it on my ear and was trying to get the keys to the safe out of my pocket.”

Liam managed to shove the man with the knife away and thinking he recognised the man with the gun Liam said: “I walked in front of him and said shoot me. I was calling his bluff as I said shoot me. I said to him ‘I know you and you know me’,” the publican explained.

At that point he said one of his customers “helped me out by trying to grab the gun off yer man” and a scuffle broke out. Other customers jumped in and wrestled the man with the meat cleaver on the floor.

The married father-of-one said he was still traumatised by what had happened. He had a bandage around a cut on his hand and also sported fresh scars to the side of his face and his throat.

Among the customers in the bar was Chris Corboy. “I thought it was a prank, a joke. I’m still shaking from it. I thought it was someone playing a joke.”

Liam is puzzled why raiders would target his pub. “He didn’t get a lot of money. You could have got 10 times the amount out of another pub.”

The Mayor of Drogheda Richie Culhane said: “It was a brave customer who tackled the man with the knife and it is great that he was caught. However, I would not recommend it as it could go badly wrong and we could be dealing with a fatality.”

A 21-year-old man who was arrested in connection with the incident remained in garda custody last night.

The cash taken was also recovered.