Bungling robber admits bank raid

A BUNGLING robber has admitted targeting a Nuneaton bank on one of its busiest days of the year.

Stephen Cheshire strolled in to the NatWest branch in Market Place at midday and demanded cash from staff.

Although he was unarmed, he still managed to escape with an undisclosed amount of cash.

However, he didn’t get far and was arrested the very same day.

The robbery was carried out in front of a large number of customers as it came on the day when NatWest was under enormous pressure as its online banking failed to register transactions causing more people than normal to head to their local branch.

Cheshire, 55, of Tudor Road, Nuneaton, appeared at Warwick Crown Court for a plea and trial preparation hearing where he entered his guilty plea to a charge of robbery.

He will now be sentenced in the week commencing September 11 and has been given bail until that hearing.

The incident left a number of people in the town centre at the time in shock.

Connor Lawson Shaw said at the time: “It’s quite scary knowing it’s happened here. I have never heard of anything like this happening in Nuneaton.

“I know shops have been robbed but it’s a bit different when it’s a bank. It means Nuneaton is getting worse. An armed robbery...I cannot believe this!”

Ashley Jake was in the George Eliot pub across the road from the bank when it happened.

He said: “I was in the pub and two guys came in and said they were in there when the bank was robbed.

“They said they were waiting to get some money and this guy just came in and snatched some money out of the drawer.”