A dangerous armed robber who "terrified" his victims with an imitation firearm, knives and a wheel-brace has escaped from Mountjoy Prison.
Stephen Bollard absconded from temporary release working in the officers mess yesterday.
The alarm was raised at around 5pm when prison officers realised he had not returned.
The 29-year-old was jailed for six years in May 2018 for carrying out a string of robberies in the capital.
Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard Bollard was identified from CCTV in the majority of the six robberies and had been on bail for the first offence when he committed the later crimes.
When arrested in relation to one of the robberies he was searched at a garda station and €270 of cocaine was found concealed in a plastic bag hidden behind his scrotum.
Bollard, with addresses at Gracefield Avenue, Artane and Harmonstown Road, Harmonstown, Dublin pleaded guilty to six robberies at various locations in north Dublin and possession of cocaine on dates between April and November 2014.
He left the country and went to live in Scotland with his father in late 2014 but was returned to Ireland in early 2018 on foot of a European Arrest Warrant after serving a sentence for robbery in Edinburgh.
His crimes included two counts of theft at Raheny DART station in May 2014.
Judge Martin Nolan noted Bollard had used the weapons during the robberies to “terrify” the people he encountered.
He said he had no doubt Bollard was robbing to feed his drug problem at the time but said he must have known what he was doing was grossly wrong.
Judge Nolan took into account Bollard's guilty plea and co-operation, as well as the steps he had taken to reform himself and noted the contents of a psychological report handed into court.
A Prison Officer spokesman told Dublin Live gardai have been notified of Bollard's escape.
He said: "The Irish Prison Service can confirm on the 26 October 2020 a prisoner on Temporary Release to work placement at Mountjoy Prison went unlawfully at large. An Garda Siochana has been notified."
