The Court of Appeal has upheld a seven-year sentence imposed on Paul Norton for his part in a robbery targeting a security cash delivery at Northside Shopping Centre in Coolock, Dublin 5.
Norton pleaded guilty to robbery after acting as the driver of a motorbike intended as the getaway vehicle during the incident on 21 June 2012. A Group 4 Securicor employee, Derek May, was carrying a cash box while making a delivery to the EBS when Norton's accomplice grabbed it from him. May suffered minor injuries and the accomplice was caught by shopping-centre security staff.
Gardaí found Norton waiting on the motorbike in an underpass on Oscar Traynor Road. He fled at high speed along a pedestrian footpath. The Court of Appeal recorded that he drove towards Garda McGrath when the officer tried to block his escape. He then drove on the wrong side of the road, passed stationary traffic at a red light and crashed while trying to avoid a JCB.
Norton received seven years' imprisonment at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in January 2015, with the final two years suspended. He also received credit for nine months already spent in custody and was disqualified from driving for life.
His appeal argued that his sentence was disproportionate compared with that of his accomplice, Mr Geraghty, who received three years with the final year suspended. The Court of Appeal rejected that comparison. It found Norton significantly more culpable because of the dangerous flight, his driving at a Garda, his much worse criminal record and his failure to cooperate.
The court also held that adequate credit had been given for Norton's guilty plea. It was entered only on the morning of his third trial date, when he had effectively been caught red-handed.
The judges found no error of principle in taking Norton's earlier robbery conviction into account when setting the sentence. The appeal was dismissed.