Armed robber jailed for four and half years for raid on Tannochside bank

Stephen Wright was seen donning a full face skeleton mask before staging the robbery, but one witness noticed a distinctive scar on the back of his head.

Wright (35) made it out of the Royal Bank of Scotland branch in Thorniewood Road with £2,370 in cash to a getaway car.

But an anti-robbery dye pack had been put in with the bank notes and after the vehicle took off at speed the bag containing the cash was thrown from a window.

The bag was found to contain bundles of notes stained with red dye and more cash was found on the ground where the car had been parked.

A total of £2,340 was recovered and the missing £30 was seen blowing down the road following the raid.

The judge, Lord Boyd of Duncansby, told Wright at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday (Tuesday): “You ran into the bank brandishing a knife with a very large blade. You were screaming and shouting in a relentless and aggressive manner.

“This was no doubt designed to place the customers and employees of the bank in a state of terror so that they would comply with your demands.”

The judge told Wright that bank staff and their customers were entitled to the protection of the courts from such offending.

He said he would have jailed Wright for six years for the crime, but for his guilty plea.

Wright, of Wellhouse Crescent, Glasgow, earlier admitted while acting with another carrying out a masked assault on employee Alice McCabe and robbing her of the money August 5 last year.

During the attack he demanded money and pushed a carrier bag through the teller window. He struck the counter and window with the knife.

The employee put cash in the bag, but also added a bogus bundle of notes containing the dye pack, which was designed to trigger if it was taken through the front door of the bank.

A colleague of the victim pressed a panic button triggering the alarm. Witnesses noted the registration of the car used in the getaway.

Police later received intelligence that Wright was responsible for the robbery and he was detained a week later.

The court heard that the information over a distinctive scar on the back of the robber’s head proved useful in confirming the identification of the perpetrator.

Defence counsel Euan Dow told the court that Wright had accumulated a large drug debt and was trying to pay the money back.