Man jailed for bomb threat bank robbery
Terrified cabbie forced to carry fake explosives bag
A MAN who sparked terror after forcing a taxi driver to rob a bank for him with a fake bomb was yesterday jailed for almost seven years.
Andrew Patrick, 40, held a gun on petrified cabbie Alistair Rankine before giving him a bag said to have an explosive inside.
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 which claimed they had only minutes to fill the bag – and that devices would go off if police were called. The letter also claimed the driver had a bomb strapped to him.
At the High Court in Glasgow, Judge Lord Bannatyne told Patrick: ‘This offence can only be described as utterly appalling. This has had a very significant effect on the taxi driver and must have been frightening for bank staff.’
Lord Bannatyne told Patrick that if it had not been for his early guilty plea he would have jailed him for nine years.
The offence took place at around 1pm on November 11, 2015.
Mr Rankine was working and was asked to make a pick up at an industrial estate in Lochgelly, Fife. Patrick made the call to the taxi office using a fake Polish accent.
When Mr Rankine arrived, Patrick got in the taxi clutching two holdalls and with his face partially covered. Still claiming to be foreign, he gave directions, but they ended up at a dead end in Kirkcaldy.
He then pulled out an imitation black handgun and said: ‘You’ll be safe if you do what I say.’
Mr Rankine was forced to go into the nearby Bank of Scotland branch in the town’s Carberry Road, taking one of the holdalls with him, and a note he was made to hand over to bank staff. The note read: ‘There is a bomb strapped to this man...also in the bag. They can go off if transmitter detect signal or call.’ It added: ‘You have 4 mins to fill this bag’.
The taxi driver was eventually escorted out the bank with a total of £9,730 in cash, but found Patrick had gone. Patrick was instead at a nearby store which he often used to buy water for his gym.
Amid dramatic scenes, a team of armed police and an army bomb unit soon arrived. The explosives were found to be fake, each consisting of tubes, cotton wool and a mobile phone circuit board.
Patrick was later snared and in March pleaded guilty to abduction, assault and robbery.
The former gym instructor, from Lochgelly, Fife, was working at the Fitness Factor gym in Kirkcaldy, earning up to £300 per week, but had financial difficulties.
Lord Bannatyne yesterday sentenced him to six years and nine months in prison.