Love/Hate actor JAILED for over 4 years after armed robbery at hotel

Irish actor Stephen Clinch is facing four and a half years in prison after an armed robbery at the Gate Hotel on Parnell Street. 

The 49-year-old, who is best known for his role as Noely on the popular RTE drama series Love/Hate, reportedly robbed over €50 thousand from the premises in May of last year. 

According to witnesses, the Kilbarrack native held a gun to the head of a security worker who was collecting money from the hotel's bar. 

The court was told that Stephen suffered from an addiction to heroin though claimed to be clean of the drug for over nine years. 

The father-of-three has 17 robberies and 13 burglaries on his criminal record, though all of these offences occurred before 2005. 

"I thought I had my life back on track," said the Dublin man to Gardaí when he was arrested. 

Character witnesses, that included singer Damien Dempsey, producer of Love/Hate series Stuart Carolan and film director Mark O' Connor, vouched that Stephen was reliable and gave back to his local community. 

Stephen claimed he resorted to the robbery as he was in a large debt after a consignment of drugs he had been given to hide were discovered by authorities. 

The actor's fictional character Noely was infamously involved in the shocking prison assault on Fran using a pool cue that ended season five of the show.