"HANDS UP!"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23275, 18 February 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

"HANDS UP!"

Audacious Avwied Bandits Raid A Glasgow Bank in Daylight IN front of the Royal Bank of Scotland in Shields Road, Pollokshields, Glasgow, a car drew up. Two tn-en ; v jumped out. Swiftly they ran into the premises, and, while one of them jumped oyer 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 j /\ they left again with the con- j JL X tents 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 terrlis 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 McKenna, 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 Roval Bank of Scotland, Shields Road, Pollokshields, assaulted four employees of the bank, 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. H. Sherwood Calver, advocate, said that about two 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. Leaped Over Counter The car stopped, and Burns and McKenna ontered the bank, where Burns drew a revolver from his jacket, leaped over the counter, and presented the weapon at the four attendants on duty shouting, "Hands up!" At the same time, McKenna broke the glass in the door at the end of the counter and thrust a revolver through the broken glass. Pointing it at the bank servants, ho shouted 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 McKenna to keep them covered, removed notes from the till and put them in his pocket, and then leaped back over the counter. The two of them backed toward the door, still keeping the bank attendants covered with the rovolvers, 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'car' opened the door for them. It have been a carefully-planned crime,. - After the three accused had been arrested, Burns told the police thfit the whole game was up, and if they allowed them to have a consultation he would be able to tell the police where the money was.

The 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 and he took the police to a house where notes to the value of £IBO were recovered. Referring to the men's pro* vious convictions, Mr. Sherwood Calyer said, " They are no strangers to crime, involving dishonesty and also personal violence." - > . ' :

Burns, he understood, had been un« employed since 1934. He was first convicted in December, 1935. when lie was found guilty of theft and sentenced to three months' hard labour. In October, 1936, he was convicted of house-break* ing, assault, and robbery, and was sen*, tenced to nine months. 4 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. , McKenna's record w§s a bad one. He started at the age of ten, when ha wag sent to a reformatory. Later he went to Borstal, and then to prison. - ; y; Mr. David Maxwell, who appeared for all three accused, said that the revolvers were dummies, and could not be loaded. There was no danger to life.

Bums' 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 passing sentence, said that a crime of this kind might easily result in murder.; Such crimes would not be tolerated. All the men were equally responsible.