A bank robber who forgot to cut eye holes in his mask has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Matthew Davies donned a pillow case to carry out the armed raid on a branch of the Bank of Scotland but found his disguise hindered his sight.
His counsel Lorraine Glancy said: “When he was in the bank in order to be able to see the person he was trying to rob he required to expose his face not only to that person, but to CCTV cameras operational in the bank.”
Davies had pulled a meat cleaver from the pillow slip and then put the bedding item on to cover his face.
But he then had to quickly remove it. Prosecutor Stewart Ronnie earlier told the court: “This was due to a failure to create eye holes.”
Davies did manage to rob an employee at the bank in Bothwell Street, Dunfermline, in Fife, of £1980 after brandishing the weapon and demanding cash.
A man going into the bank decided to follow Davies as he made his escape and tailed him to the street where he stayed.
The witness described him as walking slowly away from the robbery and at one point stopping to pat a dog.
Police found cash and a pillowcase like that used in the raid along with a stun gun at an address in Reid Street, in Dunfermline.
Davies, a prisoner in Glenochil jail, earlier admitted the assault and robbery and a charge under the firearms act.
The judge, Lord Turnbull, told Davies that he would have faced a six-year prison sentence but for his guilty plea.
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