A JUDGE has told two brothers who plotted to steal from a cash-in-transit van that they are sure to be jailed next month.
Alan Bradley (38), Churchfields, Kentstown, Co Meath, and Wayne Bradley (33), Ratoath Road, Finglas, Dublin, pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal cash from Chubb Ireland on November 2nd, 2007, at the Tesco supermarket in Celbridge, Co Kildare.
The men carried out the raid under the direction of the late gangland figure Eamon Dunne, who was also arrested at the scene.
Three other men have already been sentenced for their roles including a Chubb Ireland employee who acted as an “inside man”.
Gardaí had been watching the gang and arrested them before any money was taken. The van contained more than €880,000. After hearing the evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Tony Hunt remanded the Bradleys in custody until April and told them a non-custodial sentence was ruled out. He said the 10-year maximum sentence for the offence was inadequate but that this was not a matter for him.
“It was a conspiracy that was within minutes of fruition,” Judge Hunt said, adding that if the men had taken a trial date he would have imposed close to the maximum sentence.
After hearing that one of the other raiders, Jeffrey Morrow, was jailed for 12 months for the offence, in addition to five years for other crimes, the judge said Morrow was lucky he had not appeared before him. “The idea of giving 12 months extra for a caper like this . . . It wouldn’t be a road I would go down.”
He remanded the brothers in custody until sentencing because “there is no reality of a non-custodial sentence”.
Alan Bradley has 32 previous convictions and Wayne Bradley has 12, all are for minor matters such as road traffic offences. Neither brother has come to Garda attention since the 2007 raid.
Det Garda Ronan Casey told Deirdre Murphy SC, prosecuting, that Alan Bradley was second in command to Dunne while Wayne Bradley was less involved and did not participate in the planning of the operation.
Alan Bradley was spotted by gardaí near the Chubb headquarters shortly before the raid and was also responsible for obtaining key codes to open the van.
Patrick Marrinan SC, defending Alan Bradley, said his client was heavily involved in his local gym and a kickboxing club. He said he was active in his residents association and had helped build playgrounds for local children and put up road safety signs. He is married with three children.
Mr Marrinan said Wayne Bradley wanted to put his criminality behind him, learn a language and move abroad to find work. He could not find work here because he “hasn’t been able to shake the shackles of his notoriety”.
Aileen Donnelly SC, defending Wayne Bradley, said he attended a “high support special school” and had a borderline IQ. The court had heard the raid was planned for several months. On November 2nd, 2007, Dunne, Morrow, Michael Ryan, Joseph Warren and the Bradleys travelled in a four-car convoy from Finglas to Sandyford.
They parked near the Chubb offices and waited for the van to start its run at 8am.
The “inside man”, Darryl Caffrey, was a passenger in the vehicle.
When the van stopped at the Celbridge Shopping Centre, Caffrey and his Chubb Ireland colleague got out to fill an ATM. Warren approached the van with a consaw as Ryan failed to open the front doors with the keys which had been procured by Alan Bradley.
When the van doors would not open, Warren walked back to his car as gardaí moved in. The six men and Caffrey were arrested.