Cork man jailed for robbing bank with note that said 'Thank you, and I’m sorry for this'

The 'monumentally foolish' decision was made in order to pay off drug debt

The robbery happened one November lunchtime at the Bank of Ireland in Douglas Village Shopping Centre. File picture

A "monumentally foolish" decision to rob a bank to pay a €4,000 cocaine debt saw a man walking into the Bank of Ireland in Douglas shopping centre where he handed a note to a cashier saying he had a gun but finishing with the words, “Thank you, and I’m sorry for this”.

42-year-old Noel O’Brien of 68 Maryborough Court, Douglas, Cork, had no previous convictions of any kind and lay awake in bed the night before the robbery trying to come up with a plan to pay the debt he was under threat to pay off for his cocaine addiction.