A MAN who wore a bullet proof vest and carried a loaded Smith Wesson Magnum revolver ha been jailed for 11 years by Dublin Circuit Criminal Court for his role in armed bank robberies Nenagh and Longford in 1994.
Frank Ward and a co defendant, David Lynch, were identified by gardai in Dublin and Sligo who saw a video recording on the RTE Crimeline programme of the Nenagh raid, which lasted 56 seconds.
They were arrested after their car, driven by Ward, reversed into a ditch near a Garda checkpoint following the Longford crime.
A loaded sawn off shotgun, ammunition for both guns, and wigs, beards and other make up materials were also recovered in the car. Both men wore bullet proof vests.
Ward (42), married and the father of two, of Knockmore Park, Tallaght, Dublin, pleaded guilty to armed robbery of £7,878 from the Bank of Ireland, Mitchell Street, Nenagh, on April 8th, 1994, and of £10,370 in mixed currencies from the Ulster Bank, Main Street, Longford, on October 24th, 1994.
Judge Cyril Kelly noted he had already served one year in custody on these charges and that his codefendant, Lynch, had been jailed for 12 years with the final four suspended.
He therefore imposed an 11 year sentence on Ward with the final three suspended.
Ward was previously jailed for 12 years in 1980 for attempted murder of two gardai who were shot in the Dublin Mountains after they chased an armed gang which stole £101,000 from a Stillorgan bank. He was released from that sentence in October 1990.
Judge Kelly was told Lynch (27), of Benbulben Terrace, Sligo, was Ward's nephew. He was jailed last December for his role in the Longford and Nenagh crimes and had previously served a five year sentence for possession of firearms and robbery.
Judge Kelly said he viewed Ward as the more culpable of the two. He was more senior and had a more serious record.
He said it was not the intention of the courts to incarcerate a person so that when he left prison on he was incapable of rehabilitation.
He was also following decisions of the High and Supreme Courts that offenders should be left with light at the end of the tunnel.