A ‘cack-handed’ crook who robbed a bookies wept and told a judge that he’d given him a death sentence moments after being imprisoned.
Kevin Bruce, 37, also shouted ‘f**k you’ to judge Lord Armstrong after he was told he was being jailed for five years and 10 months.
Bruce, of Aberdeen, threatened staff at the Coral Eurobet store at the Cornhill Shopping Arcade on October 15 2018 and made off with £139.39.
Lord Armstrong told Bruce that his crimes could only result in a lengthy custodial disposal which prompted Bruce to start weeping before shouting: “That’s a death sentence you’ve given me. An absolute death sentence.”
The story emerged after Bruce appeared from custody for sentencing alongside 39-year-old Anthony Jackson, also of Aberdeen.
The two men were originally accused of robbing two bookmakers in the city. Prosecutors originally alleged that the pair also raided a branch of William Hill in the city’s Summerhill Court on October 17 2018.
However, the Crown accepted guilty pleas from the duo – Bruce pleaded guilty to robbing the Coral whilst Jackson pleaded guilty to raiding the William Hill branch.
Defence advocate Lorenzo Alonzi told the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday that Bruce had a drug problem and that these issues contributed to his offending.
He added: “It was a pretty cack-handed effort that was bound to end in him being caught.”
Jackson’s counsel Edward Targowski QC said his client accepted responsibility for his actions.
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Mr Targowski added: “He is under no illusion that your lordship will sentence him to a period of custody today.”
Lord Armstrong jailed Jackson for five years and five months.
Passing sentence, the judge added: “As I have said, where serious crime of this type is concerned, this court will make it clear, to those who might be minded to commit robberies of this nature, that those serving the public in the course of their employment must be protected from persons like you who show no respect for the law or for others serving the community.
“The perpetrators of such crimes must expect lengthy custodial sentences.”
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