Robber jailed for forcing cabbie to hold up Scottish bank
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.
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Hide AdMr 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.