Crack addict jailed over armed post office raid

A 29-year-old armed robber who was given every opportunity to kick his addictions and not reoffend since his attempt to rob a rural post office backfired four years ago, has gone back to prison to serve three years of a six-year sentence.

William Hamilton, from Ballymoe, and another man got more than they bargained for when they tried to rob the post mistress at Glinsk Post Office on August 17, 2011.

The pair were armed with knives and had covered their heads with pillowcases before ringing the doorbell that afternoon.

They demanded money from the post mistress when she opened the door but they took fright and fled the scene empty-handed when she and her daughter started shouting and screaming at them.

Hamilton, who has been battling a heroin and crack cocaine addiction and has a string of serious previous convictions, including one for armed robbery, received a six year sentence with three suspended when the matter first came before Galway Circuit Criminal Court in 2012.

He served the three year portion of the sentence but when he failed to engage with the probation service on his release as part of the conditions of the suspended part of the sentence and also reoffended, the service brought the matter to the attention of the court last week.

Probation officer, Cathriona Brosnan, said Hamilton had not finished his addiction treatment course and remained at high risk of reoffending.

Defence barrister Conal McCarthy said three years of the original sentence had been suspended on condition his client undergo treatment and while he had tried to engage, it had not been successful.

Judge Rory McCabe said he had no option but to activate the three-year suspended sentence.