Gang member gets six years for attempted cash van robbery

A experienced criminal has been jailed for six years for his role in attempting to steal €855,000 from a cash van.

Jeffrey Morrow (aged 27) of Hazlecroft Road, in Finglas was arrested at the scene of the attempted theft along with his accomplices. He is the only one to have pleaded guilty and is currently serving a five-year sentence for offences committed before the attempted theft.

He pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring with others to commit a serious crime, namely the theft of cash at Tesco’s, Shackleton Road, Celbridge on November 2, 2007.

Other men were arrested at the scene and some are to stand trial next March. They cannot be identified due to a court order.

Another man, Darryl Caffrey, was sentenced to three years last January for supplying inside information to the gang through his role as a cash van worker for Chubb Ltd.

Judge Patrica Ryan said she had to mark the “very serious nature of the offence” but took into account Morrow’s plea of guilty.

Earlier this week Morrow took the stand to deny tipping-off gardaí that he and his alleged accomplices were to carry out the raid.

Morrow decided to give evidence, despite been warned by his defence counsel, Mr Luigi Rea BL, that this would leave him open to cross-examination. He alleged that gardaí attempted to pressure him into giving them information on the theft but denied telling them anything.

“All I want to do here today is clear my name,” he said. “I never said anything about anybody. It was not my fault other people were arrested that day.”

When cross-examined by Mr Sean Guerin BL, prosecuting, Morrow denied that he was in the area to steal the cash, despite already pleading guilty to this. He claimed he was there to steal a car on his own.

“I pleaded not guilty all along”, he said. “I only changed my plea to get it all over with.”

However, when pressed by Mr Guerin, Morrow accepted he had pleaded guilty and was actually there to steal the money.

The court heard his life was in danger and he was under special protection in prison, meaning he is confined to his cell for 23 hours a day.

Morrow has 80 previous convictions and was jailed for five years last March for possession of a shotgun, cocaine and a garda baton and radio. A garda told the court on that date that the man he may have been holding the gun for was later murdered.

Detective Garda Greg Flemming told Mr Guerin that gardaí learned through confidential information that an armed robbery was planned on a Chubb cash delivery van.

As a result of the tip-off gardaí placed four cars under surveillance and followed them to where they all met up in Ballymun.

They travelled in convoy to the offices of Chubb in the Sandyford Industrial Estate where they waited for a cash van to leave and followed it. Along the way the cars stopped and Morrow was seen swapping vehicles with someone else.

The van parked outside Tesco in Celbridge and Caffery and the driver got out to deliver the cash. Several men from the cars approached the van with a key and attempted to open it. There was €850,000 in the vehicle at the time.

Gardaí moved in and all the men were arrested. Morrow made no reply when arrested and was taken to the garda station where he was interviewed eight times. He initially made no admissions but later said he had been recruited by the gang to be the lookout during a “smash and grab".

He said he was to use the walkie talkies or beep the car horn if he saw the gardaí. He said he was to be given €5,000 for this.

Det Gda Flemming agreed with Mr Rea that Morrow had not identified anyone else involved during the interviews.

Mr Rea said his client had never been employed and had a partner and two children. He said his brother died in 2006 and he had gone “off his head” on cocaine. He added his life was in danger while he was in custody and he was under considerable stress.