Two days later, he fell into a coma. Last week, he died.

Contrary to media reports, Louth was scheduled to work in Clarke's Bakery on the New Cabra Road in Dublin, on the day of the attack. It was 3 July, at around 3.30am when the 66-year old set off from his home at 102 Ratoath Avenue in Cabra, where he lived with his sister.

It was early. There was no need for Louth to be in work at this time, but it was his habit to arrive in with the baker, and have a chat while the cakes were being baked.

Then he'd pack them up, and set off on his delivery rounds.

This morning was different. At 4am, the baker . . . who does not wish to be identified . . . arrived to Clarke's bakery.

As he opened the back door, he was attacked by three men, who pushed him into the building and forced him to turn off the alarm. The baker was tied up on the floor, and warned to be silent.

Fifteen minutes later, he heard his attackers speaking on a mobile phone to someone who was sitting outside the building. The voice on the phone told the men that Louth was walking up to the bakery. The men sat in wait.

At 4.15am, Jimmy Louth was attacked by the three raiders, and tied up on the ground. He was hit repeatedly on his legs with a broomstick as the men tried to coerce information from him about the location of the keys to the safe.

"To be honest, it took lumps out of me to hear what Jimmy was saying at that time, " said Noel Clarke, owner of the bakery. "They were hitting him, and he was asking them to stop and saying that he wasn't the boss and he didn't know where the keys were.

'I'm just an old man', he kept saying to them."

Eventually, the raiders settled for the contents of the tills. It is thought that they stole between 1,000 and 1,500. Then they left. Louth and the baker remained tied up on the floor until some hours later, when they were discovered by another employee. They were taken immediately to the Mater hospital.

"Jimmy's ankles were very bruised, and they were focusing on that part of him, " said Clarke. "But he was declared fine, and he was discharged at around 11.30am."

Louth went home that day.

It was Monday. He was meant to be taking the next few days off work, to recover, but Clarke spotted him out walking on Tuesday evening. "I stopped the car and asked him what was he thinking to be walking on his hurt legs, " said Clarke. "But he said he was restless and didn't want to be sitting around the house.

So I brought him back to the bakery, and he sliced a few loaves of bread before going to watch one of the World Cup matches with a friend."

The following morning, Wednesday 5 July, Louth showed up for work. His unscheduled appearance didn't surprise any of the staff at Clarke's.

Jimmy Louth was notorious for not taking days off work. "He'd be on holidays, and he'd turn up across the road there, " said Clarke, pointing to an AIB bank. "And he'd just stand there looking over at us. Then he'd be in the next day, holidays or no holidays. He'd been working here for the last 22 years, and he was very attached to the place."

Arriving in to work on the Wednesday after the robbery, Louth was an instant hero.

"Everyone was pouring over him, and clapping him on the back, and of course he loved it. He seemed in perfect form that morning, " said Clarke.

"Everyone loved Jimmy, because he was just always in a good mood. He had these twinkly eyes, and he was only a small fellow."

Louth returned to work after lunch, but didn't come in from his van. When Clarke went to see if he was alright, he found the 66-year old slumped in his seat, his face a ghostly white. "I brought him straight to the hospital, " said Clarke. "Jimmy kept saying he'd be fine and that he just needed to go home. We got to the hospital, and they took some blood tests, and next thing, his head just fell to the side. I'd thought he'd fainted, but he'd actually fallen into a coma." The coma was to last nine weeks, until last Monday, 11 September, when Jimmy Louth finally lost his fight for life.

In an effort to save him, surgeons had operated on Louth and removed a blood clot from his brain. He had suffered from thrombosis in his legs, a disease that causes clots to form in the blood vessels. The 66-year old had told gardai that he had not been hit on the head by the raiders, but it is thought that detectives now believe the blows to his legs may have started a blood clot that went on to damage his brain, and ultimately caused him to die.

Gardai were this weekend waiting on the results of a postmortem. Depending on what the state pathologist finds, they may charge Jimmy Louth's attackers with murder, when they find them. It was reported last week that one of the suspects in the case has already been identified by the garda and is currently serving time in Mountjoy for a separate crime. A spokesman for the gardai said he could neither confirm or deny these reports.

For the staff at Clarke's Bakery, it doesn't really matter what happens now.

"Jimmy's dead, and he's dead because he was attacked, " said Noel Clarke. "It won't help Jimmy either way if they decide to press murder charges. Some people are saying they were a local gang, but anyone in the area would have known that Jimmy wouldn't have the keys to the safe. Also, none of the locals would attack Jimmy. They all knew him. He coached a lot of them for the local junior soccer team. Everyone loved Jimmy.

"We've had so many customers coming in, to say how sorry they are that he's gone.

All we know is that we'll miss him around here."