He may be the UK’s worst bank robber – and it worked to his advantage.
Terence Cole, 61, was shown mercy this week by a Liverpool Crown Court judge for being so bad at committing his crimes.
“Fortunately, you’re not very good at this,” Judge Clement Goldstone QC told Cole in court, according to the UK’s Mirror. “I make it quite clear that if you had been more successful you would have been facing today a discretionary life sentence.”
Between Nov. 23 and Dec. 3 of last year, Cole attempted to rob six banks, but left empty-handed every time except once, the news outlet reported.
During the attempted heists, Cole wore a scarf over his mouth and muffled his voice so much that bank tellers could not even hear his demands for cash.
Cole also claimed to have a gun during the attempted stick-ups, but the “gun” was actually a gray brush wrapped in tape.
On one occasion, bank staffers realized the weapon was a fake and refused to fork over cash with one worker telling Cole to “sod off,” the court heard.
During his only successful robbery out of the six, Cole made off with nearly $500 bucks from a Royal Bank of Scotland in Merseyside and left a clerk “crying hysterically,” according to the news outlet.
After Cole was arrested he told cops that he would have continued trying to rob banks to pay off his $2,600 gambling debts.
Cole pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to eight years behind bars.