A BUNGLING building society robber who torched his £180 getaway vehicle after finding it had a flat battery was yesterday locked up for six years.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Richard Angel had been caught on camera carrying out the raid at the Nationwide branch in Old Christchurch Road on the evening of July 6 this year.

Prosecutor Desmond Duffy said Angel, 44, had been wearing a balaclava and hooded top when he got out of the rear of his red P-reg Ford Scorpio after awaiting the arrival of a cash delivery van for almost three hours. Angel from Herbert Road, Bournemouth, pointed an imitation pistol at terrified security guard James Sullivan, who handed over £15,000.

Angel picked up the cash box and ran to his car to discover it wouldn’t start. He fled on foot after using a newspaper to set fire to the vehicle’s interior in a bid to destroy any incriminating evidence. But his fingerprints were found on a bottle inside the damaged car.

After dropping the loot, Angel was arrested a few minutes later when he was spotted “sweating profusely” by a suspicious police officer at Horseshoe Common, a short distance from the town’s police station.

Angel, who admitted robbery and having an imitation firearm, told detectives he had been planning the raid for six months. He bought the car on eBay for £180, using a false name, and had paid £99 for the replica gun.

He said: “I just wanted to get money to solve my financial problems. This wasn’t a professional robbery; I did this right in front of a CCTV camera.

“I had a flat battery. I couldn’t make my escape – it was a really stupid thing to do. This is the first armed robbery I have ever done.”

Defending Angel, Robert Gray said: “The planning here was amateurish. Would a professional, hardened, ruthless criminal buy a cheap car for £180 which isn’t a reliable getaway vehicle? He didn’t even start the car before the robbery to see if it still worked.”

Mr Gray stressed that Angel had been “deeply in debt” and depressed because he couldn’t find work.

Sentencing Angel, Recorder Anthony Coleman him: “I don’t accept that this robbery was as unprofessional or unsophisticated as you were trying to make out. Although it was an imitation weapon Mr Sullivan wasn’t to know that until after the event.”