An off-duty garda and his father left the pub they was drinking in to catch a inept robber by knocking him off his scooter as he tried to escape, a court has heard.

The raider, who had just left a bookmakers empty handed, was today remanded in custody pending sentence later.

David Towell (36) of Kilcarrig Crescent, Tallaght left the Paddy Power bookmakers after failing to take any cash.

He got on a moped which was being driven by an accomplice, but the two men were knocked to the ground by an off-duty garda and his father as the vehicle took off.

Towell pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempted robbery and possession of an air pistol at Paddy Power, Saggart on July 6, 2013. He has 20 previous convictions.

Garda Stephen Kelly said Towell had banged on the window of the bookmakers cash desk while the cashier crouched down looking for the panic button.

He left with nothing and was arrested at the scene after being knocked from the moped, which was in poor condition.

Gda Kelly said that his off-duty colleague was alerted to the attempted robbery by a witness who had run into the pub where he had been drinking with his father.

The garda told Mark Fitzgerald BL, prosecuting, that Towell’s accomplice fled the scene.

He said Towell described his accomplice in appearance and told gardaí he didn’t know him before he had met him the previous night when they planned to commit the robbery.

Towell later gave evidence in court that he had misled gardai in his descriptions when he was called as a witness in the trial of a man accused of being his accomplice.

John Kelly BL, defending, submitted to Judge Catherine Murphy that this was his client’s first violent offence.

Judge Murphy remanded Towell in custody until March pending a probation and welfare service report.