Crime reporter Chris Greenwood concludes his exclusive feature on the York landlord who ran away.

A FUGITIVE licensee who disappeared with the takings from a York pub has told of how he came face-to-face with his former employers while on the run in western Ireland.

Robert Howse started a new life in Galway after he "blew a gasket" under pressure from his bosses and fled from The Punch Bowl in Stonegate where he was working as landlord.

Eight years after he vanished, an Evening Press investigation traced the 39-year-old to a popular tourist pub in the Irish coastal town, where he is working as head doorman.

In an exclusive interview, the former landlord spoke for the first time of how he was confronted by former managers from Bass Taverns during the town's annual oyster festival.

But in an astonishing turn of events, they failed to recognise him and one of them offered him a new job - in York.

"They were in the pub at lunchtime. I had my head shaved for a while and I was working and they are all sat there, the Bass manager people, guys I've been on management courses with," he said.

"One guy was telling me if I ever want a job he's got a pub up near the university in York."

The narrow escape is one of several remarkable events that have marked the eight years Howse has spent on the run in west Ireland after stealing a sum of money from his York pub.

Speaking after being confronted by a reporter at the pub in Galway's tourist centre where he works as head doorman, Howse admitted that life on the run has not been smooth.

He now wants to return to England because he feels his personal and professional lives are "messed up", but fears that he could face prison when police finally trace him.

If North Yorkshire Police detectives want to speak to Howse in connection with the theft at The Punch Bowl in May 1996, they would need to apply for his extradition through the Irish courts.

Howse said that one one occasion after he first arrived in Ireland, he was forced to take cover from a drunken group of travellers who threatened to kill him for being English.

The gang attacked him in the doorway of the Limerick hotel where he was working, armed with slash hooks and hammers after hearing his English accent.

"I just barricaded myself inside where they couldn't get at me because I was in a corner," said Howse. "If they had a brain they would have got me but they were pissed."

Soon after the terrifying attack, Howse moved to Galway and began telling people he was Australian. Although his mother remains in York, his father has moved to Australia and Howse speaks with a slight accent.

Once in Galway, Howse said a serious motorcycle accident ripped a hole in his life when he needed surgery to a series of life-threatening blood clots in his legs.

He had met a woman and begun a relationship which lasted several years. They were engaged but when she left the country to spend some time travelling she met another man. Howse could not fly out to see her because of his treatment.

Howse said he is due in the courts later this month for separation proceedings from the woman, adding that the split has been extremely acrimonious.

In the meantime he has met another woman, with whom he shares a home in Galway; she is pregnant with his first child.

When asked if she knew that he is on the run, Howse said: "Well, no. Why, I've always been here, she's been here for four years and I've been working the same job."

Howse said he has never spoken before about his previous life in York, but fears that the Irish police may know about it.

He said: "I think the police have an idea because one of the guards said something to me one day, I was making a statement at the police station, and one of them said: 'Are you here to surrender yourself are you?' You know how they mess with you and they're done. I was in there to give a statement about a fight."

Although Bass Taverns ran The Punchbowl in 1996, the business is now managed by Mitchells and Butlers after a series of corporate acquisitions and divisions between 2000 and 2003.

A spokeswoman for the Birmingham-based group, who manage almost 1,400 pubs and bars nationwide, said managers would look "with interest" at the Evening Press' findings.

She said senior regional managers would have to look through their records to find out what became of their investigation into Howse's disappearance and the theft of cash.

I was under awful pressure and just blew a gasket

Edited transcript of a conversation between Chris Greenwood and Robbie Howse in Galway on Wednesday, August 25 at 1am.

CG: Have you seen what was in the papers about the theft?

RH: I ought to write a book it would be quite humorous, in parts. They said £27,000, they bandied around £40 odd grand. The other rumour is I spent it all on the races. I had a day out and came back and the Bass sh** squad had been around to see me.

CG: The who?

RH: Bass have a sh** squad who turn up at 4am and knock on your door and check your cash and your stock. They hit me once and it was grand but I had a few pound missing and I had to take some money out and put it back in to make sure it balanced.

CG: So what happened then?

RH: They said they would be back but they didn't come back until the Saturday and I was at the races and they were asking all sorts of questions then. I just had a wobbly I think. I hadn't had a holiday for years. At the time I was under awful pressure and just blew a gasket. I took a certain amount and went, whatever. It wasn't really enough to set up a new life.

CG: Where did you start off?

RH: I was nearly murdered down in Limerick. There was these guys, I was just talking to them. They came back with weapons, slash hooks, you know they were travellers, and hammers and stuff. I was working in the doorway in a hotel and I was on my own. So I just barricaded myself inside they couldn't get at me because I was in a corner. If they had a brain they would have got me but they were too drunk.

CG: So where did the Australian thing start?

RH: I was in Shannon first, then Limerick, then came up to Galway. I had friends playing in the Junior Cup Final and just got a job. I had friends from Australia here and when I got a job and they presumed I was Australian too, it was easier than being English.

Updated: 09:44 Tuesday, September 07, 2004