Dunmurry raid "spur of the moment"

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A 62-year-old man with a heart condition took part in a "spur of the moment" cash-in-transit raid on a Post Office, the High Court heard on Wednesday.

Patrick Manning allegedly drove the getaway car after £19,000 was seized from a delivery driver in Dunmurry on the outskirts of Belfast.

Prosecutors claimed he was caught with the cash box in one hand and a hammer in the other following the heist last Friday.

Manning, of Old Brewery Lane, Belfast, was granted bail after a judge studied medical notes supplied on his behalf.

The retired scrap yard foreman faces one charge of robbery over the raid on Seymour Hill Post Office.

The Crown counsel claimed a co-accused demanded money from the delivery driver before the box was snatched.

Both suspects were later detained when the car they escaped in was located less than two miles away, the court heard.

The defence, accepted there was a "fairly compelling case" against his client, the lawyer told the court:

"After caution at the scene the response of the applicant was 'I'm not going to cause any trouble. It was a spur of the moment thing, can you remove these handcuffs?".

The court also heard Manning later stated: "It looks like you have caught us red-handed. What can I say?"

Mr Mallon revealed the accused was forced to retire from work on health grounds after suffering a heart attack which required the insertion of a stent in one of his arteries.

Granting bail, Mr Justice McCloskey remarked:

"If it was a spontaneous act, and I don't know if that is correct, it was a very foolish one."

The judge imposed a curfew and electronic tagging conditions, and banned him from entering the area around the scene of the crime.

He also prohibited Manning from driving a car, and from contacting either his co-accused or any witnesses.

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