Man who went for a pint after robbing shop is jailed

A man who ran into a pub and bought a pint after holding up a nearby shop with a knife, has been jailed.

Thomas Thompson (aged 41) of Tymonville Drive, Tallaght pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to robbery at the Maxol garage, Castletymon Road, Tallaght on November 29, 2011.

Garda Mark Shortt told Martina Baxter BL, prosecuting, that Thompson walked into the shop holding a kitchen knife and threatened two members of staff. He took cash from two cash registers and ran out of the shop.

Two ESB workers who saw Thompson running from the shop chased after him. Thompson was seen throwing the knife to one side and he also threw "fiver" notes back at the men, the court heard.

Thompson outran the men and went into a nearby pub. When gardaí checked the pub shortly afterwards they found him sitting down with a pint in his hand and his jacket off.

Thompson has 58 previous convictions including 31 for robbery and two for drug dealing. Judge Martin Nolan noted Thompson's expressions of remorse and his attempts at rehabilitation and jailed him for two and a half years.

Mark Lynam BL, defending, said his client was a former drug addict who is clean of drugs now. He said he was on his way to school that day where he was taking a course in counselling.

Counsel said Thompson was with some younger students on the day and took the head shop drug "snow blow" or mephedrone. He said that Thompson had gone into the shop earlier that day to buy a newspaper and had no plans to rob the shop.

He said he hoped to eventually finish the course in counselling and to work with elderly people with alcohol problems and to help other drug addicts.

He said his client's conviction record was a result of his extremely bad heroin and cocaine addiction.