Armed man who said he was from the IRA while robbing post office jailed for four years

Stephen Maguire

A man who claimed to be from the IRA as he held up a Co Donegal post office at gunpoint has been jailed for four and a half years.

Barry Reddan, 65, appeared at Letterkenny Circuit Court, where he pleaded guilty to a single charge of attempted robbery.

The court heard how Reddan left postmistress Mary Brennan terrified when he walked into her post office in Clonmany armed with a gun on November 11th, 2020.

Reddan, a retired motor mechanic, burst into the post office and shouted: "Hand the money over, I'm from the IRA. Hand the money over."

Ms Brennan told how the man, who wore a 'monkey hat' and surgical mask, had his finger on the trigger of the gun and it kept twitching as if he was going to shoot her.

The man pointed the gun at her again and repeated "Give me the money" but Ms Brennan replied "You're getting no money."

Reddan fled empty-handed but was arrested following a Garda investigation and admitted carrying out the attempted robbery.

Detective Garda Jason Conroy gave details of the incident before Judge John Aylmer.

He told how the terrified post mistress managed to press the panic alarm button located below her desk and backed into the kitchen area of the post office where she managed to lock the door behind her.

She tried to telephone for help but realised she had left her mobile phone out in the post office and waited for five minutes.

Still shaking and terrified, she then went back out, grabbed her phone and managed to call a man she knew in the nearby Centra shop.

Detective Conroy told the court that an immediate investigation was launched and CCTV taken from a number of locations identified a white Ford Fiesta van which was later traced to Barry Reddan.

An attempt had been made to obscure the licence plate of the van but ironically, the court was told that the van had been stopped earlier by gardaí after it had a broken brake light.

No money was taken during the robbery, and the court was also told that Reddan, with an address at Whitehouse Park in Derry, did not have any previous convictions.

The postmistress said she had worked for An Post for 40 years but never wanted to feel how she felt during the attempted robbery ever again.

Reddan, a father of four children and eight grandchildren, said he could not explain why he did what he did on the day.

"I don't know why I did it, I don't even have a speeding ticket," he said.

He added that he was "totally ashamed of what I did." And he added, "I'm so sorry to that woman. I'm very sorry for any harm or offence I caused to that woman."

The man's barrister, Mr Colm Smyth, SC, instructed by Frank Dorrian of PA Dorrian and Company, said his client wanted to offer the woman €5,000 as a token of his remorse.

The probation report assessed Reddan of being of a low risk of reoffending.

Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer said Reddan's victim had been petrified during her ordeal and placed the incident at the upper end of the mid-range for such offences.

He also noted Ms Brennan was obviously a woman of "great fortitude" after refusing to hand any of the money from the post office over to Reddan.

The Judge said that before mitigation, the offence merited a sentence of eight years in prison.

In mitigation, he said the accused had no previous convictions and had not come to the attention of Gardai since the crime was committed five years ago.

He also noted Reddan entered an early plea, that he had worked all his life and had been married for 44 years with four children and eight grandchildren.

The probation service said he was at a low risk of reoffending but that there was still no explanation as to why he committed such a serious offence aged 60, other than that he might have been feeling depressed at the time.

For these factors and also that Reddan had given his victim €5,000 as a token of his remorse, Judge Aylmer said he was reducing the sentence to five and a half years.

And because of the fact that Reddan had no previous convictions, was of a low risk of reoffending, and the probation services saw no need for rehabilitation, he was suspended for the final 12 months of this sentence.