Day release prisoners rob businessman at knifepoint
Three prisoners who were on temporary day release robbed a businessman at knifepoint in Dublin, it emerged tonight.
The men, who were serving sentences for robbery and drug offences, were released to attend a work training course run by the Probation and Welfare Service.
At around 1.15pm, they threatened a businessmen with a knife while he was in his car on Sherrard Street and stole a small sum of money from him.
The man, who is believed to be a rent collector, notified the gardaí about the robbery.
Officers arrested the three men as they were returning to Mountjoy prison on the North Circular Road.
A Garda spokeswoman said the three men were being detained at Store Street Garda station under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.
According to the prison service, the three men are in their early 20s and are from Ballyfermot, Dublin’s north inner city and Cork respectively.
Two of them were due to be released in September and the other man was due to be released in February next year.
