Supreme Court dismisses William Twomey’s appeal over robbery convictions

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Supreme Court dismissed William Twomey’s appeal against his convictions arising from a plan to lure and rob Mayo businessman Edward McAndrew. The proceedings were reported on 16 July 2024.

Twomey was found guilty in November 2021 at the non-jury Special Criminal Court of robbery, assault and demanding money with menaces from McAndrew in Co Louth in December 2017. He was acquitted of falsely imprisoning McAndrew. The report said he had already served the sentence imposed on him.

The trial heard that men beat McAndrew with iron bars, demanded money and robbed him at a remote location. He had been lured to Omeath on the pretence that plant machinery was for sale and was kept for a time in a car boot. The sentencing judge described Twomey as the initiator of a joint enterprise, but said the results went well beyond what he had contemplated.

Twomey argued that he had communicated his withdrawal from the plan and taken reasonable steps to countermand his participation. A detective garda confirmed that Twomey had spoken to him about a possible attack; Twomey claimed he also called the PSNI. The Director of Public Prosecutions argued that the contacts were ineffectual and that Twomey knew this.

In the ruling on 16 July 2024, Ms Justice Iseult O’Malley accepted that Twomey told Tony Finglas the plan should stop and had taken some timely steps by contacting two police forces. But she said he knew Finglas was not dissuaded, had not warned McAndrew and had failed to take all objectively reasonable and proportionate steps given his earlier involvement.