A desperate robber believing he had a terminal ill

A desperate robber believing he had a terminal illness
wanted to die in ‘bizarre circumstances’ amid a hail of police
bullets during a raid.

But he ended up in jail – not in a coffin.

For when ex-soldier Christopher Thiart tipped off police
one night that he planned to carry out the raid the next day they
thought he was joking – but they took the precaution of alerting
the building society.

And when depressed Thiart turned up at the Abbey National in
The Strand, central London, last January he expected to be
ambushed and shot dead.

But the police were not there and as he robbed the premises
of pnds stlg 1,145 he was expecting any second to be shot.

He was astonished when he walked out with the cash unchallenged
after threatening the cashier with a note which read: ‘I would
like a large withdrawal or the bag goes boom.

‘
In fact he was unarmed.

Another bid to kill himself had also failed when he took an
overdose of pills and was rushed to Mile End Hospital where his
life was saved.

After The Strand robbery he raided other building societies.

This time he did not tell the police, said Mr.

Carl Teper,
prosecuting, at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday.

On January 24 he walked into the Chelsea Building Society
in Princes Street, W.

1, and thrust a note at a terrified
woman casher which read: ‘If I don’t walk out of here in three
minutes with a large amount of cash, my friend outside will
push a button and we will all go boom.

Don’t be a dead hero.

‘
She quickly handed him pnds stlg 434.

But security cameras had captured him on film.

Four days later he fled empty handed from the Nationwide
in Edgware Road, Paddington, after threatening a cashier
with a note which he left behind.

It read: ‘Any panic button or silent alarm will explode
our little friend in the bag here.

I’ve got a gun in the bag.

Don’t be a hero.

I want to leave with a large amount of money.

I don’t care about dying.

‘
He ran off because he realised security cameras were
running.

And just 45 minutes later he walked into the Abbey National in
Victoria Street, Westminster, and demanded: ‘Your money or your
life.

‘ He got away with pnds stlg 3,070.

Again he was caught on camera.

On January 30 armed Flying Squad detectives ambushed his car
in Kilburn High Road and arrested him without a struggle.

In the glove compartment they found pnds stlg 1,650.

He was fully cooperative with police and admitted everything,
said Mr.

Teper.

Mr.

Rudi Fortson, defending, said Thiart wished to make a
public apology for the terror he had caused the cashiers.

‘He was hoping from the outset to be shot and if that is not
a symptom of severe depression I don’t know what is,’ said
Mr Fortson.

He said following an adverse reaction to a vaccine injection
he was convinced he was dying of leukaemia – but that was not the
case.

According to Thiart’s girlfriend, he would talk in his sleep
at their home in Fairfield Road, Bow, saying: ‘I’m going to die.

I’m going to die.

‘
‘At the time he was working for Tesco’s in Bromley-by-Bow
but left, thinking life had nothing further to offer.

He took
it in his mind that he ought to end his life in this rather
bizarre fashion – being shot by the police.

‘
Jailing him for seven years after he pleaded guilty to robbery
and attempted robbery, Judge Gerald Butler, QC, told him: ‘There
are many people who are depressed, but they don’t go out committing
offences like this.

You terrified those cashiers.

Depression cannot
in any way excuse these dreadful crimes.

‘
ENDS