Gardaí tracked post office robber for 65km using CCTV, court hears

Gardaí identified and arrested a robber who held up a post office in Co Cork by tracking him for some 65km to his home in Co Limerick using CCTV footage, a court heard on Thursday.

On Thursday, Gary Walsh (32) was sentenced to five years in prison, with the final year suspended, after he pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to the robbery of €3,800 at Blarney Post Office in Co Cork on January 24th, 2017.

Det Moss Leahy told the court that Walsh entered the post office at about 1.45pm on the date in question.

He queued behind the only other customer in the post office, before giving a note to a member of staff at the counter telling her that this was a robbery and to hand over cash.

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He gave the woman a plastic bag, which she filled with cash.

He then walked calmly from the post office to a car which he had parked nearby, before driving to his rented property in Kilmallock, Co Limerick.

Mr Leahy said that the car was a dark-coloured Toyota Avensis, with silver door handles and silver hub caps.

He said gardaí began checking CCTV footage in Blarney and various towns in Co Cork after the robbery and were able to trace Walsh’s journey from the post office to Kilmallock, some 65km away.

Gardaí arrested Walsh at his rented apartment on January 30th, 2017, some six days after the robbery.

They found €1,600 in a jacket pocket at the apartment, which Walsh admitted was part of the proceeds of the robbery.

Walsh made full admissions in relation to the robbery.

Mr Leahy said the only discrepancy between Walsh’s version of events and that of the Blarney Post Office staff member was that she said he had a firearm concealed up his sleeve during the incident, whereas he said that the object was an iron bar.

Mr Leahy said Walsh had 42 previous convictions, mainly for road traffic violations.

Walsh had a previous conviction for the robbery of a shop in Macroom in 2008, for which he was sentenced at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to three years in prison.

He was also convicted in Swansea Crown Court in May 2013 in relation to a robbery, for which he had been sentenced to four years in jail.

He had received a two-year consecutive sentence for possession of an imitation firearm, but was released on licence by the UK prison authorities in April 2016.

Co-operation

Defence barrister Peter O’Flynn BL said that his client had co-operated fully with gardaí from the moment he was arrested.

Mr O’Flynn said Walsh had expressed remorse for his actions and had written a letter of apology to the post office staff member.

He said that Walsh had been addicted to cocaine when he carried out the robbery in Macroom in 2008.

He said Walsh later had issues with prescription drugs and alcohol, but he had gone on a rehabilitation course while in jail in the UK and had been drug-free ever since.

Judge David Riordan noted Walsh's early plea of guilty, which had allowed the case to be fast-tracked through the criminal justice system in less than six weeks.

The judge also noted that Walsh’s guilty plea had saved the victim of the robbery the trauma of a trial and the State the cost of a trial.

The judge sentenced Walsh to five years in jail, with one-year suspended, for the robbery, and three years’ in prison on a second charge of possession of the proceeds of crime in Kilmallock on January 30th, to be served concurrently.