Ex-hurler in €13k armed raid to pay off drug debt
A FORMER hurler who attempted to pay off a drug debt by stealing more than €13,000 from a post office was jailed yesterday.
Ex-dublin inter-county player Alan Coyne, 45, was handed down a five-year term with the final two years suspended at Longford Circuit Court.
The judge heard how Mr Coyne, a recovering heroin addict who owed €1,300, entered Ardagh Post Office at 2.30pm on October 16 last year wearing a baseball hat, snood and gloves and armed with a blade.
He held customer Mary Leavy Lenihan at knifepoint while demanding employee Melanie Lyons remove money from a safe.
He fled with €13,238 in Ms Leavy Lenihan’s car but lost control on the main N55 between Edgeworthstown and Ballymahon.
Both women gave victim impact statements.
Ms Leavy Lenihan said: “I feel more vulnerable and concerned this may happen again.”
Ms Lyons also told of her fears she might become an “easy target” in the future.
In the witness box, Mr Coyne, of Derravaragh Abbey in Multyfarnham, Co Westmeath, said he resorted to carrying out the robbery to pay off a drugs debt after being warned “things would happen” if he didn’t.
He added: “It’s incredible to think at 45 I am sitting here having been raised so well by my family.
“If it means going to jail I will gladly do that if it gives these ladies a bit of peace.”
Mr Coyne was also ordered to pay both victims €4,000, to keep the peace for 10 years, to engage with probation services and to refrain from drink and drugs.
We’ve got a lot of family issues... and we can’t get to see them ROBBIE WILLIAMS
ROBBIE Williams has revealed his dad Pete has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
The pop star, 46, has been fighting “fear and panic” over his father’s plight and other family traumas.
Robbie, living in Los Angeles, says he has struggled in lockdown, especially with his dad, 70, being so far away.
The mum of Robbie’s wife Ayda Field is also dealing with a “big illness”, having previously been revealed to have Parkinson’s and lupus.
Robbie said: “We’ve got a lot of family issues right now. My dad has got Parkinson’s, my mother-in-law who I love dearly has got a very big illness. We can’t get to them. My dad is thousands of miles away.
“My mum is just a year short of 80 and she’s in isolation and I can see the things whirling in her mind and her eyes going.”
Robbie feared the recent issues could lead to him suffering depression and drink and drug problems as he has in the past. He said difficult times “cause fear and panic” and added: “I noticed at the start of the lockdown that I was going into fear.
“But the difference between me now and the person I used to be... I saw it, thought ‘That’s interesting – tomorrow will be different’. And it was.
“Whereas before I used to think that I’d feel that way for a decade.” Robbie, who has four children including baby
Beau, has been joined on stage many times by his dad who is also a singer.
Pete told fans his last time performing may be when his son played Port Vale FC’S stadium in June, a gig that has now been postponed.
A source close to Pete said he is in good health, adding he has sung at all Robbie’s latest shows, most recently in January.
The entertainer, who split from Robbie’s mum Janet over 40 years ago, and whose stage name is Pete Conway, seems to have been in good spirits in lockdown at home in Stoke. He has put images online of friends helping him with food packages as he self-isolates.
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