A man who robbed a bank by pretending to carry a bomb in a rucksack has been jailed.
Steve Andrew Morrell (born 19/01/1984) of Mayflower Avenue, Ordsall, pleaded guilty to three counts of robbery at Manchester Crown Court Crown Square.
Today, Friday 17 July 2015, he was jailed for eight years.
The court heard that between 1 and 14 April 2015, the offender walked into two banks carrying a holdall and a hand-written note, upon which was written a message along the lines of ‘Put the money in the bag or the bomb goes off’.
Terrified staff at one of the banks handed over cash before the man walked calmly away.
The first incident took place at the Royal Bank of Scotland at Stretford Mall at 11.13am on Wednesday 1st April 2015, when he walked in and pretended to be interested in opening an account before slipping the note over to the cashier.
She handed over around £3000 in cash, which he put into the holdall before walking out of the bank towards Kingsway.
He struck again at Lloyds bank on Chorley Road, Swinton, on Tuesday 14 April 2015.
Only that time the cashier challenged him, asking: “Are you serious?”
Morrell replied that he was, but when she challenged him again he turned and walked out of the bank empty-handed.
The third and final attempted robbery took place at William Hill Bookmakers on Deansgate on 21 April 2015.
Morrell entered the shop and asked for the lottery numbers, and while the cashier was writing them down he handed over a note which read “Give me the money or I will shoot!”
He reached into his jacket pocket as if grasping a gun, but the cashier stalled him by responding ‘Ok, just give me a minute’ before walking into the back room of the shop.
Morrell then walked calmly out the shop.
Detective Constable Gary Mills said: “Morrell was a prolific offender, targeting three different shops in the same way in a very short space of time.
“Buoyed by the success of his first attempt, he continued his campaign of robberies and subjected several more bank and bookmakers cashiers to the terror of confronting a man who claimed to have a bomb.
“The fact that he was carrying an empty bag means nothing, he could quite easily have had an explosive device or firearm concealed and it must have been a harrowing experience for these victims.
“That said, most stood up to him and refused to hand over the money, and they should be commended for that bravery.”
