A man who was given a 10-year jail sentence in 2002 after being found guilty of an attempted bank raid in which a garda was accidentally shot dead by a colleague had the final two years of his sentence suspended by the Court of Criminal Appeal yesterday.
The appeal against sentence was taken by Kevin Lynch (35), of Glenshane Crescent, Tallaght.
The court yesterday rejected an appeal against a 10-year sentence imposed on another man - John Bishop (40), of St Ronan's Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin - arising from the same incident.
Lynch, Bishop and another man were found guilty at Portlaoise Circuit Criminal Court in December 2002 of conspiring to rob the AIB bank in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, on December 7th, 2001.
The raid was foiled by an undercover garda who fired a number of shots during the raid, one of which ricocheted and killed Det Sgt John Eiffe of the National Surveillance Unit.
All three had previous convictions for aggravated burglary and armed robbery.