Career criminal mowed down three retirees in car chase

As retired friends walked to their car after their regular afternoon game of pitch and putt, they were mown down by a speeding car which was being pursued by gardaí following a burglary, a court heard.

One of the injured men, Eric Ryan, aged 79, a former Limerick hurler, lost a leg and another William Barry, who is in his 70s and a retired garda, suffered bleeding to the brain.

A third man, Dermot O’Brien, who was in his 70s, escaped injury, and has since died.