Robber jailed for forcing cabbie to hold up Scottish bank

A man who forced a taxi driver to rob a bank has been jailed for six years and nine months.

Andrew Patrick: gave driver bag he said contained bomb. Picture: Contributed

Andrew Patrick, 40, held up Alistair Rankine with a gun before giving him a bag supposedly containing a bomb.

Patrick – who pretended to be Polish – ordered the taxi driver to steal cash from a Bank of Scotland branch in Kirkcaldy, Fife.

Mr Rankine handed over a note to staff warning they had only minutes to fill the bag – and that devices would go off if police were called.

The letter said the driver had a bomb strapped to him.

Judge Lord Bannatyne told Patrick: “This offence can only be described as utterly appalling. This has has a very significant effect on the taxi driver and must have been frightening for bank staff.

“This was not a spur-of-the-moment offence, it required substantial planning.”

The High Court in Glasgow heard the £10,000 from the bank was recovered.

Lord Bannatyne told Patrick, a gym instructor, that if it had not been for his early plea of guilty he would have jailed him for nine years.