Suspended sentence for raid on bookmakers

A robber who raided a bookmakers armed with a plastic handgun in order to pay off a debt has been given a five-year suspended sentence by Judge Katherine Delahunt.

Larry Higgins (aged 45) of O’Devaney Gardens, North Circular Road, told gardaí that he had been “taken in a van” some weeks previously and been given two weeks to hand over €500. He said after the robbery he had gone straight to Artane in Dublin and handed the proceeds of the raid over to a man.