An actor who starred in Love/Hate has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for armed robbery.

Stephen Clinch, who played gangster ‘Noely’ in the RTE drama, was found guilty of carrying out a €50,000 armed robbery at premises in Dublin city centre.

Clinch, along with one accomplice, attempted to steal €50,000 in cash from the Gate hotel on Parnell Street in north inner city Dublin, on May 11, 2015.

A number of well known public figures offered character witness statements on Clinch’s behalf – including from Damien Dempsey and Stuart Carolan.

The court heard that at roughly 8am on the day of the robbery Clinch and another man came through a door and demanded the cash from staff.

The men grabbed the cash and ran away, with Clinch turning during the escape and pointing the gun at an employee.

A maintenance worker, Barry Smith, intervened when he saw the thieves getting away, Clinch punched Smith but Mr Smith hung on and staff soon joined him in subduing Clinch until gardaí arrived.

Clinch told gardaí he didn’t know the gun was loaded and hadn’t wanted to commit the robbery.