Four years for bank robber

A man who robbed a Co Laois bank four years ago has been given an eight-year suspended sentence after repaying the €10,000 taken in the raid.

Alan Freeman (aged 27), of Deansrath Grove, Clondalkin, repaid the €10,000 from a personal injury settlement.

Freeman pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbing approximately €10,500 from Bank of Ireland, Rathdowney on February 13, 2004. He had six previous convictions for minor offences.

Judge Desmond Hogan said that in suspending the sentence, he was taking into account the "unique" nature of the case such as the "high level of contrition with a practical form", the "practical and sustained help to gardaí" and that gardaí believed Freeman was unlikely to become involved in this type of offence again.

Detective Sergeant Sean Grennan told Mr Kerida Naidoo BL, prosecuting, that Freeman was one of three men who robbed the bank.

He said Freeman’s accomplices wielded firearms threatening staff and demanding money while Freeman used a sledgehammer to break the security glass at the cash counter.

The trio made their escape in a jeep with €10,500 in cash. The jeep was later found abandoned in a field outside Rathdowney.

Det. Sgt Grennan said 45 minutes after the raid, a car carrying three men matching the robbers’ descriptions was stopped and Freeman and his accomplices were arrested. Freeman admitted his role to gardaí.

Det. Sgt Grennan said the two firearms used in the raid were found to be incapable of firing live ammunition.

Det. Sgt Grennan agreed with defence counsel, Mr Pieter Le Vert BL, that Freeman co-operated with gardaí and told them where the firearms could be found.

He also agreed that Freeman’s relatives were well known to gardaí and he had a difficult childhood.

Mr Le Vert said Freeman was married with three children and had repaid the bank from a personal injuries settlement he received in a civil case.

He said Freeman had a heroin and cocaine habit at the time of the robbery but had gone to England for treatment and moved away from Dublin for a period on his return to rehabilitate himself.

Mr Le Vert said Freeman had expressed regret at his involvement in the offence and had been attending bereavement counsel on death of his mother.