JESSE Nikolovski had been out on parole for less than a year when he got the urge to return to his old ways.
Nikolovski was 21 in 2015 when he watched his mate Daniel Petryk gun down Wickham man Robbie Parry during a botched home invasion.
He was ultimately acquitted of murder when a judge found he couldn't have known Petryk was armed with the firearm and instead convicted of armed robbery over the failed "drug rip" at Mr Parry's house.
But home invasions were never really Nikolovski's MO.
He preferred to target pubs, waiting outside for closing time, armed with a knife, uttering threats and dishing out violence.
Rather than lie low in the wake of Mr Parry's murder in March, 2015, Nikolovski went on an armed robbery spree, holding up four Sydney hotels in five weeks.
Heavily-armed police interrupted Nikolovski as he was about to commit a fifth hold-up.
For his role in the home invasion, Nikolovski was jailed for a maximum of six years, with a non-parole period of three years and nine months.
And for the pub robberies he was sentenced to a maximum of eight years and six months, with a non-parole period of five years and six months.
It sounds like an eternity, but those sentences would run almost concurrently and in mid-2021, Nikolovski walked free from jail.
Within a year, he would return to his old life of waiting outside pubs at closing time, fast cash, cars and poker machines.
Nikolovski on Thursday pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery and one of attempted armed robbery over hold ups at the Royal Inn at Waratah on July 3, The Exchange Hotel at Hamilton on July 8 and The Bennett Hotel at Hamilton on August 7, that netted a total of more than $80,000.
He will be sentenced in August when a number of other charges, relating to dealing with the proceeds of the robberies, will be taken into account.
Nikolovski's approach was always the same; he would hide in the shadows outside of a pub until closing time only to emerge when staff members had locked up and began walking to their cars.
Then he would produce a weapon - a 30 centimetre blade - or say he had a gun and order the staff members back inside where he would ransack the safe.
But on the first attempt at Waratah, the staff did not have keys to get back in and Nikolovski was forced to flee empty handed.
It was about 3am on July 8 when Nikolovski targeted The Exchange Hotel at Hamilton, approaching a staff member as he left after locking up.
He pointed a knife at the young man and demanded to be taken back inside where he stole $43,000.
The next day, Nikolovski was captured on CCTV at West Leagues Club feeding $50 notes into a poker machine and later printing a ticket to collect.
Detectives say he was "laundering" or cleaning the proceeds of the robbery.
A few days later he bought a black Mercedes for $12,000 in cash.
Nikolovski also laundered money through the poker machines at a hotel at Charlestown the day after holding up The Bennett Hotel at Hamilton and stealing $36,000.
Nikolovski was arrested on August 9 after a siege at a home in Everton Street, Hamilton, during which he started a fire in the bathroom.
For Mr Parry's brutal murder, Petryk was jailed for a maximum of 26 years, with a non-parole period of 19 years and six months. He will be eligible for parole in 2035.
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