Would-be shop robbers chased off by employee

Two would-be robbers, both aged 22, who fled from an off-licence chased by a female employee who shouted after them, “I’ll see your mothers”, have been sentenced.

Marc Mccarron and Damien Mcfadden were handed probation and community service orders at Londonderry Crown Court yesterday.

Mccarron from Slievemore Park and Mcfadden from Moyola Walk, both pleaded guilty to attempting to rob the off-licence close to their homes on May 13, 2019.

Mccarron also pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage to the off-licence counter by repeatedly hitting it with a golf club while demanding alcohol.

Instead of backing down when confronted by the two defendants, the lady employee, who was described in court as “a woman of fortitude and of a reasonably mature age” rebuked them.

The woman came from behind the counter and chased them off the premises as she shouted at them: “I’ll see your mothers”.

Fingerprints of both defendants were later found on the smashed off-licence counter and the golf club was found by police in Mccarron’s home.

Both defendants were later identified by the off-licence employee.

Sentencing both defendants to two years of probation together with 80 hours of community service, Judge Philip Babington said robberies, or in this case the attempted robbery, of local shops was a very serious crime.

“This was an incident that could have turned very nasty. These two young men had a weapon with them, a golf club, and Mccarron used it on the counter causing damage,” he said.

“The lady behind the counter says she was left shocked by the incident, not so much as being fearful as opposed to being shocked that it was these two people who tried to rob the shop.

“She was on her own and of a reasonably mature age — my apologies to her for describing her in this way.

“She chased the two defendants out of the shop and said she shouted something like ‘I’ll see your mothers’ or something to that effect. She said the whole incident only lasted a matter of moments.

“It seems she later received an apology from the mother of one of the defendants. She told his mother that she thought it was totally out of character.”

Judge Babington said in sentencing both defendants he took into consideration they were very young, that they had largely stayed out of trouble and that both had difficult upbringings.

A health trust which halted care arrangements for two severely disabled adults in Northern Ireland at the start of the pandemic acted lawfully, a High Court judge has ruled.

Mr Justice Colton identified no breach of a legal duty in how their needs were reassessed as the Covid-19 crisis took hold.

Dismissing a challenge brought by the mother of the siblings, referred to as J and L, he held it would be unrealistic to suggest services deemed necessary before the public health emergency could not be reviewed from March 2020 onwards.

“The assessment of J and L’s needs cannot be considered in a vacuum,” the judge said.

Prior to the pandemic the pair, who live at home with their parents, had a package which included being taken to day care five days a week, domiciliary care every Friday, and overnight respite annually to support their mother.

In March last year those arrangements ceased due to Covid.

Much of the care package has since been restored, with emergency respite also provided in the interim period.

At the time of writing, this week’s £180m Euromillions Lottery rollover draw hasn’t yet taken place.

It would be lovely if somebody local won it (even lovelier if that somebody was me).

But how, I wonder, are we even allowed to do it here? How come EU bosses haven’t clamped down on our access to Euromillions?

Maybe it’s a trap. Maybe Ursula Von der Leyen is just waiting for the moment she can tell a UK winner they may have scooped the pot, but the bank withdrawal process is in breach of the Protocol.