A robber who dropped his phone during a failed bookies raid and later that day dropped €200 he took from a supermarket has been jailed for five years.Michael Geoghegan (43) was identified from CCTV footage of the robberies, and gardaí then went to his house. A message arrived on the phone left in the bookies from “Mam”, asking why officers were outside their house. He co-operated with gardaí and made full admissions.Geoghegan, of Ormond View, Swords Manor, Swords, Co Dublin, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery at Boylesports and two counts of robbery at Lidl. The offences all occurred in Swords on November 13th, 2025. He has been in custody since that date.Geoghegan has 71 previous convictions, including robbery, theft, criminal damage, threats, burglary, firearms, drugs, public order and road traffic offences. He was under a two-year suspended sentence at the time of these offences.Passing sentence on Monday, Judge Orla Crowe noted Geoghegan had a long history of offending and had been in and out of prison for a long time.Crowe said the offences had been utterly terrifying for the victims, carried out with what looked like a real gun and with threats being issued.The judge said one of the staff members had described the “real raw fear” she felt and said she should not have been subjected to such an ordeal while doing her job.Crowe noted that a strong letter from his mother outlined her devastation and shame at his actions and described how her son’s life went out of control when introduced to drugs.She noted he was now doing well on a methadone reduction programme. The judge set a headline sentence of eight years’ imprisonment and, in light of the mitigating and personal circumstances, imposed a sentence of six years with the final year suspended.An investigating garda told Grainne O’Neill, prosecuting, that Geoghegan first attempted to rob Boylesports. He was spotted by staff acting suspiciously before he produced what appeared to be a gun. A staff member sought safety in another room and pressed a panic button.CCTV showed Geoghegan lying on top of the counter in a failed attempt to get money from the till. He dropped his phone, which was later recovered by gardaí.Later that day at Lidl, Geoghegan approached a woman cashier with a realistic looking gun and ordered her to open the till. She had to get a fob from a colleague and initially panicked and put in the wrong passcode, while Geoghegan shouted and pointed the weapon at her.He took €250 from that till, before moving to another till where he demanded further cash and took another €250. A witness described him as wearing a mask and having his hoodie up.Both employees in Lidl described being terrified, believing the gun to be real.Gardaí attended at Lidl and watched CCTV, with a description being put out over the radio.About 10 minutes later, a customer who had been in the supermarket saw Geoghegan coming towards her in the car park, wearing different clothes. She saw him place the gun in a bush.The woman returned to the supermarket to alert gardaí, while Geoghegan got a taxi back to his home. Gardaí identified Geoghegan from the supermarket CCTV and went to his house.The phone left behind in Boyle Sports received a message from “Mam” asking, “Why are the gardaí outside our house?” Gardaí were permitted entry to the house and arrested Geoghegan, who made full admissions. The court heard €50 was recovered from the taxi driver as well as €200 Geoghegan had dropped outside the supermarket.He told gardaí he had a debt of €7,000 and threats had been issued. He said €4,000 of the debt was paid by his father, and he had committed the robberies to try to raise the balance.Gregory Murphy, defending, submitted that Geoghegan had said in both Boylesports and Lidl that he did not wish to hurt anyone. He said the gun used in the offences was an Airsoft.