No escape: Niall Fitzpatrick was convicted over the botched robbery
A NOTORIOUS criminal who is part of Munster’s most-prolific armed robbery crew has been convicted in connection with a raid on a businessman’s home which was foiled by armed gardai.
Niall ‘Houdini’ Fitzpatrick (47), was found guilty of attempted burglary and attempted aggravated burglary on businessman Pat Glavin’s Glanmire home on August 11 last year. The incident was described as a “meticulously planned raid” in court.
However, the gang were foiled by gardai who were lying in wait at the home for them to strike after receiving intelligence about the raid. As the gang were about to enter the home, gardai threw a stun grenade at their feet, disorientating them with dazzling light and loud bangs.
Fitzpatrick was previously described by gardai as one of the most notorious and dangerous armed robbers in Cork. The well-known criminal, from Mayfield, Cork, was nicknamed Houdini after escaping from custody on three separate occasions.
His associates Trevor O’Sullivan (below) and Vincent Murray were convicted earlier this year as part of the raid.
During the incident, O’Sullivan fell as he tried to run away and was arrested. His accomplice Vincent Murray (38), tried to escape, but was located by the garda helicopter.
Gardai suspect Fitzpatrick and O’Sullivan were part of the crew who escaped with €140,000 following a robbery of a cash-in-transit van in Carriagline in January 2012.
Fitzpatrick was also involved in a raid on a Bank of Ireland in August 2011, and a raid on Farran Post Office in 2001 when a gun was held to the head of an employee.
Two years ago, the Sunday World had linked him to a string of armed robberies which gardai suspected he carried out after his release from prison.
His mother contacted us and demanded that we stopped writing about her son. She claimed he had given up crime and berated us for harassing him. She also gave out about gardai following him around.
However, her belief that her son had gone straight was shattered when he was arrested and charged in connection with the Glanmire incident. Fitapatrick is due to be sentenced later this month. His pals O’Sullivan and Murray are already serving lengthy sentences for their part in the crime.
Judge Sean Ó Donnabháin sentenced O’Sullivan, from Curaheen Drive to 15 years with three years suspended. He sentenced Murray, from Glandore Park, Knocknaheeny, to 10 years with three years suspended.
He said he gave O’Sullivan the longer sentence because of the high degree of planning which he put into the crime. He said it was hard “to imagine the terror and the upset” Mr Glavin and his partner, Esther Delaney and their two daughters, aged 12 and nine, endured when gardai told them they were targets of the gang.
He added: “To expose a citizen to this risk from gangsters should not be tolerated.”
