Demonstrators in Greystones, Co Wicklow, yesterday, marching on the home of disgraced banker Sean FitzPatrick

ANGRY protesters gathered at the home of disgraced former banker Sean FitzPatrick to demand he be thrown in jail.

However, gardai almost outnumbered protesters after a rumoured 400 marchers failed to show up.

Instead, around 30 protesters marched on the home of the former Anglo Irish Bank chief, close to Greystones Golf Club.

A source close to the FitzPatricks confirmed they were abroad, believed to be in a property owned by the family.

"He is rarely in the house now," the source said. "Sean still thinks he has done nothing wrong."

The protest, organised by the Right to Work campaign, began on the main street in Greystones, Co Wicklow. Outside the gates of FitzPatrick's home, James O'Toole, chairman of the campaign, said the protest was not just about the now-bankrupt banker, but about the upper classes who had escaped financial pain.

"Sean FitzPatrick is just indicative of the whole rich classes in the country who haven't been touched," he said.

Mr O'Toole called on authorities to jail the banker.

"I don't really have a message for Sean FitzPatrick, but I do have a message to the people in power -- we need to put Sean FitzPatrick in jail," he said.

FitzPatrick hit the headlines last week after it was revealed that a number of top former bankers at Anglo had not released passwords to investigators seeking access to encrypted files.

It is understood FitzPatrick has been contacted to see if he has knowledge of old passwords.

Irish Independent