Cork gang leader jailed for armed robbery
The leader of an active crime gang in Cork city was jailed for eight years today for the armed robbery of a post office in Farran, County Cork, where he said he expected to find the Crown jewels but ended up with very little.
Niall Fitzpatrick of Ballinderry Park, Mayfield, Cork, was described yesterday by Sergeant Gerry McCarthy as "a professional criminal, the leader of an active south city gang with access to an array of firearms and ammunition."
Fitzpatrick confessed to gardai the part he played in the robbery and during an interview he said, "That was supposed to be the crown jewels in the post office, in the end there was f*** all."
Fitzpatrick made headlines by escaping from custody on three separate occasions, the most recent of which occurred when he jumped a partition to run out of Cork District Court behind Judge Uinsin MacGruairc when the court was in session.
Security was heavy at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday when Fitzpatrick appeared for sentencing.
Defence senior counsel, David Goldberg, said Fitzpatrick had given media interviews in the past in which he advised young people to stay away from crime.
A probation report described the defendant has institutionalised having been in and out of prison a lot over the past 20 years.
Judge Patrick J. Moran previously imposed a twelve-year sentence on Fitzpatrick's co-accused, Keith O'Donovan (age 29) of Spriggs Road, Gurranabraher, Cork, and Ardbhaile, Mayfield, Cork.
O'Donovan's case went to trial as the defendant denied the charges against him.
However, in imposing an eight-year sentence on Fitzpatrick, the judge took the plea into consideration and co-operation from the defendant which saw the recovery of sawn-off shotguns from three different locations in County Cork.
About €10,000 was robbed from the post office in Farran on December 13 2001.
