Elderly robber leaves empty-handed when bank staff can’t read note

An elderly bank robber used a handwritten note to announce his intentions but it backfired when puzzled staff couldn’t decipher it.

On February 10, 2023, 69-year-old pensioner, Alan Slattery, went to banks and building societies in East Sussex in an attempt to rob them, only to be thwarted by his handwriting, according to Metro.

The attempted robberies occurred between the hours of 2 pm and 3.20 pm when Slattery went to a National Building Society in St Leonards, another in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, and at Natwest in Bexhill.

The same threatening note was used each time, ‘I’M NOT F*****G ABOUT, JUST PASS ME THE 10’S AND 20’S NOW AND NO ONE WILL GET HURT.’

On each occasion, however, he walked away empty-handed as bank staff refused to comply with his demands.

Inspector Olivia Carroll, of the Hastings and Rother Neighbourhood Policing Team, revealed that ‘Slattery is well-known for his previous offences in the area and could therefore be easily identified by staff who reported the incidents to us.’

‘This led to him being quickly arrested by officers and charged within just 12 hours. He was also remanded in custody to prevent him from re-offending and causing further harm to our communities.’

Two years ago, Slattery used a similar handwritten note in Hastings and Eastbourne, on those three occasions the note read, ‘Your screen won’t stop what I’ve got, just hand over the 10s and the 20s. Think about the other customers.’

However, staff at the Nationwide Building Society, Bexhill, couldn’t read the badly scribbled note, so he left with nothing.

But on March 26, he succeeded in taking £2,400 in notes from the Nationwide Building Society branch in London Road, St Leonards.

Investigating officers used CCTV footage together with his bus pass to identify Slattery as the suspect, and later found notes in his home that matched the ones used in the robberies.

Slattery appeared at Lewes Crown Court on April 5 where he was sentenced to two years and eight months in custody.