Underpants mask made my robbery pants
A bungling robber ran straight into a parked van when the underpants he was using as a mask fell over his eyes, a court heard.
Keogh tries on his pants disguise – before returning and running into the back of the van
Jason Keogh, 44, used a loaded antique French revolver to threaten a terrified G4S worker collecting money from the Morrison’s on Aldermans Hill, in Palmers Green, north London.
Using a pair of briefs as a disguise, Keogh attempted to grab the cash box.
When the guard resisted and grabbed Keogh’s jumper, the bandit pulled the 140-year-old firearm from his tracksuit bottoms.
As he made off, the security worker went back to his van to call 999 and activate the automatic dye protection system inside the box which contained £22,405.
Keogh’s brief, Michael Stradling, told the Old Bailey: ‘This all descended into a bit of a farce.’
The robber was caught on CCTV pacing up and down an alleyway close to the supermarket for about an hour before the stick-up.
Keogh was seen pulling the underpants over his face and agonising over how to complete the disguise, alternating between a baseball cap and his hood.
Prosecutor Geoff Gelbart said after grabbing the cash box the pants fell over Keogh’s eyes.
‘He can be seen smashing into the corner of a parked van and recoiling off it when the briefs impeded his vision during his escape,’ Mr Gelbart said.
When plumes of coloured smoke began billowing from the cash box Keogh flung it into a nearby canal.
He put the gun in a bag and tried to throw the gun after the cash box but it cleared the waterway, leaving the bag bearing his DNA lying out where police could find it.
Keogh was arrested at his home nearby on 21 November wearing the same Ralph Lauren jumper and trainers used in the robbery.
Keogh’s DNA was also found on a discarded baseball cap close to the scene.
The robber, who has more than 40 convictions spanning three decades, claimed to have stumbled upon the gun after disturbing a car thief and decided to keep hold of it.
He admitted robbery, possessing a firearm at the time of committing an offence and possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate on what was set to be the first day of his trial.
The judge, Miss Recorder Rosina Cottage, QC, jailed him for a total of seven years and two months.
‘You knew of the time of the van and went to hide in order to plan your advantage, even if you did not take into account the prevalence of CCTV,’ she said of the heist.
‘You took a weapon, intending to use it if necessary, and you planned to steal a large amount of money.
‘The fact that your knowledge did not extend to appreciating you were unlikely to get to the money before it was dyed shows that your planning was clearly not sophisticated.’
Keogh, of Deans Drive, Palmers Green, north London, admitted robbery, possessing a firearm at the time of committing an offence and possessing ammunition without a firearms certificate.
He was jailed for seven years and two months.
