BANK ROBBERY

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 March 1939, Page 4

BANK ROBBERY

DARING DAYLIGHT RAID In front of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Shields road. Pollokshields. Glasgow, a car drew up. Iwo men jumped out. Swiftly they ran into the premises, and. while one ot them jumped over the counter armed with a revolver and told the terrified staff ‘•hands up,” the other broke a panel in a door and kept the staff covered with another weapon which he thrust through the broken glass. As suddenly as they had entered they left again with the contents of the till and made their escape in a car, which was on the move even as they made their getaway. With an accomplice who was in the car the men, who all had previous records, were sentenced, at Edinburgh High Court, to terms of penal servitude. The men and their sentences were: —James Gunn Burns, aged 30, previously convicted of-an armed robbery on a post office, six years’ penal servitude Thomas M’Kenna, aged 33, five years’ penal servitude; and Neil Wilson, aged 32, five years’ penal servitude. They pleaded guilty to having, while acting in concert, in the branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Shields road, Pollokshields, assaulted four employees of the hank, presented revolvers at them, demanded money from them, threatened to shoot them, and robbed them of £273. Telling the story of the raid. Mr. R. U. Sherwood Calver, advocate, said that at about 2 o’clock in the afternoon a motor car containing the three accused and another person, who was driving, drew up a slight distance from the bank.

The car stopped. ;md Burns and M’Kenna entered the bank, where Burns drew a revolver from his pocket leaped over the counter, and presented the weapon at the four attendants on duty, shouting ‘■Hands up!” At the same time, M'Kenna broke the glassjn the door at the end of the counter and thrust a revolver through the broken glass. Pointing it at the hank servants, he ilumied several times. "Put them up!" Terrified, the attendants held up their hands. Burns asked where the money was kept, and one of the assistants told him it was in the till. Burns ordered M'Kenna to keep them covered, removed notes from the till, and put them in his pocket, and then leaped bacl< over the counter.

The two of them backed toward the door, still keeping the bank attendants covered with the revolvers, and, on getting to the door, they turned quickly and ran along the street to a motor car, which was moving as. they got in. Wilson, who was sitting in the ear. opened the door for them. It must have been a carefully-planned crime.

After the three accused had been arrested Burns told the police that the whole game was up, and if they allowed them to have a consultation he would be able to tell the police where tlie money was.

'l’lte police agreed, and it was later intimated that the. three had drawn lots to decide who should tell where the notes were. Wilson drew the lot, ;md he took the police to a house where notes to the value of L‘ ISO were recovered. Itel'erriug to the men’s pre- \ ions convictions. .Mr. Sherwood Cal-

ve’- eaid: “They are no strangers to crime involving dishonesty and also personal violence.”

Burns, he understood, had been unemployed since 1934. He was first convicted in December, 1935, when he was found guilty of theft and sentenced to three months’ hard labour. In October, 1936, he was convicted of housebreaking. assault, and robbery, and was sentenced to nine months.

A BAD RECORD That offence bore a great similarity to the present one. Burns entered a post office in Glasgow and presented a revolver at the people behind the counter. Burns had also two convictions in 1938 for assault and breach of the peace and for theft. Wilson had one for assault in 1938, and three for theft at earlier dates. M'Kenna’s record was a bad one. He started at the age of 10. when he was sent to a reformatory. Later he went to Borstal. and then to prison. Mr. David Maxwell, who appeared for all three accused, said that the re- ’ volvers were dummies, and could not j be loaded. There was no danger to 1 life. j Burns’s first conviction was in 1935. | when he was destitute. . Mr. Sherwood Calver said that they could not tell whether the revolvers were dummies, as. they were thrown, into the Clyde after the crime, and had not been recovered. The Lord Justice Clerk, in pasting sentence, said that a crime of this kind j might easily result in • murder., Such crimes would not be tolerated. AU | the men were equally responsible.