Failed robber gets five-year sentence

An "amateur robber" who made "a pathetic attempt at a serious offence" when he robbed a jewellery shop to pay off a so-called drugs debt has been given a five-year sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

Shane Blake (aged 31), a chronic drug addict and father-of-two, dropped and lost all but two of the €12,000 worth of rings he had robbed from the jewellery shop as he tried to get into his car outside to make his get away.