A teenager accused of being the lookout in a t

A teenager accused of being the lookout in a two-man bank
robber team has been acquitted by an Old Bailey jury.

Kevin O’Leary, 17, always maintained he was the victim of
mistaken identity for the Midland Bank robbery on August 20 last
year.

The only evidence linking him to the crime was an identity
parade and a ‘confession’ to detectives which he always denied.

The jury had heard that two men had burst into the bank in
Holloway Road, Islington, just before midday.

One pushed a note to the teller saying: ‘Just hand over the
money and nobody will get hurt.

We have a gun and won’t use it if
you co-operate.

‘
The terrified cashier saw what looked like a gun in a plastic
bag and handed over more than pnds stlng 1300.

The second man – allegedly O’Leary – was obviously acting as
the lookout while the robbery was taking place.

Another cashier activated a secret alarm but the two bandits
fled before the police could arrive.

O’Leary was arrested just after midnight at his home in Can
nonbury Villas, Cannonbury, four days later.

According to detectives, he immediately asked who had shopped
him to the police, adding: ‘I reckon you must have evidence or
something.

‘
He allegedly looked at his feet and started to cry, the jury
was told.

But O’Leary disputed the ‘confession’ and at the police sta
tion exercised his right to silence.

At an identity parade, one teller picked him out but the other
was only able to say she ‘thought it might have been’ O’Leary.

He always maintained he had been the victim of mistaken identity.

The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Robert Lymbery QC, warned
the jury not to convict unless they were completely satisfied
beyond reasonable doubt that O’Leary was one of the robbers.

The nine-woman, three-man jury decided the evidence did not
meet the high standard required by English law and acquitted him
of a single charge of robbery.

ENDS

BRIAN THE STORY ABOVE CATCHLINED FREED HAS GONE TO ISLINGTON GAZ