Six years for bookmaker thefts

A man who robbed three bookmakers armed with an imitation gun so he could pay off a drug debt has been sentenced to six years in prison.

Clive Caffrey (aged 32) of Carnlough Road, Cabra, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three charges of robbery and two charges of possession of firearms on dates between February 23 and April 19, 2008.

Caffrey covered his face when he robbed one of the bookmakers on Baggot Street and threatened customers and staff that he would "shoot them all" if they did not co-operate with him.

He had made similar threats during the other two robberies and got over €2,000 from the three raids to pay off his debt.

Judge Desmond Hogan accepted that Caffrey had started using drugs as a young teenager and embarked on his criminal career soon after that. He acknowledged that he had stayed out of trouble for 10 years following the birth of his first child before he got involved in drugs again and committed this offence.

He noted that the Caffrey was on bail for the first two robberies when he committed the last one before he sentenced him to a consecutive term of six years.

Judge Hogan suspended the last two years of the sentence having taken into account that Caffrey had co-operated with garda investigations and made full admissions.