A man who tied up a shopping centre security guard to break into a post office has been jailed for nine years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. The security guard told prosecuting counsel Mr Padraig Dwyer BL that he managed to contact the gardai by crawling to a phone and dialling 999 with a spoon held in his mouth. In the burglary, Anthony Jenkinson and two other men broke open the post office safe to find it empty.
Jenkinson (25), of Mount Olive Road, Kilbarrack, was later found to have metal chippings on his clothing from the safe and was also identified by the security guard. He was found guilty of false imprisonment, burglary and causing criminal damage at Kilbarrack Shopping Centre on March 22nd, 1997. The jury at the three-day trial in January heard he telephoned the security guard claiming he was an employee of a nearby Chinese take-away which had food left over which they would be happy to deliver. Jenkinson and two other men arrived at the shopping centre at about 2.30 a.m. and were let in.
They grabbed the security guard and took him to his office, where he was bound and gagged and threatened with being shot. The guard saw that the men were armed with a hammer, an iron bar and what later turned out to be an imitation gun. They then raided the post office.
Defence counsel Mr Breffni Gordon BL said Jenkinson's mother was terminally ill and he now appreciated the seriousness of his offence. He pleaded for leniency.