PO raider gets eight years

An east Belfast man convicted of a £5,000 armed Post Office hold-up was yesterday jailed for eight years by the Crown Court

An east Belfast man convicted of a £5,000 armed Post Office hold-up was yesterday jailed for eight years by the Crown Court. Alan Andrews (24), of Ashbrook Drive, who denied the October 1995 robbery, claimed police had set him up by getting an actor to make a taped confession to detectives. Belfast Recorder, Judge Anthony Hart, said Andrews had "spared no effort to lie away the predicament" he found himself in and had been "prepared to use and abuse anyone who got in his way". The court had heard that Andrews was one of two raiders confronted at the rear of Bloomfield Post Office by the owner after one of them had climbed in through a back window and scared away staff. Judge Hart, after jailing Andrews, said the actions of the postmaster in confronting men he believed were armed, "represents courage of the highest order". The postmaster snatched the money bag from a car moments before it was driven off by Andrews, who, following his arrest a short time later, admitted being at the scene but denied any involvement in the robbery.