Two Finglas brothers have been jailed for their roles in the armed robbery of £132,000 from a Co Louth bank in 1997.
John Martin (30), of Kippure Park, was jailed for a total of eight years for armed robbery of the money from Mr William O'Reilly at the Bank of Ireland, Ardee, on November 17th 1997 and also for possession for sale or supply of heroin valued at £1,840 on March 7th, 1997.
His brother Paul Martin (32) of the same address received a six-year sentence after pleading guilty to handling the stolen Ardee money at Fuinseog on November 18th, 1997.
Judge Dominic Lynch said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court it was a most serious offence and a sentence close to the maximum had to be imposed.
He said: "In dealing with sentence I must not ignore that this was a very well-planned robbery and I'm quite satisfied that the employees in the bank were in fear of their lives."
He added he would have regard to the fact both men pleaded guilty to separate offences and took into account what counsel had said in mitigation on their behalf.
"It was only through good police work that your escapes were not made good," said Judge Lynch.
Their guilty pleas came during legal argument in the absence of the jury at their second trial in February which had been estimated would continue for six weeks.
A jury in their first trial just one year ago disagreed on a verdict after an 18-day hearing.