Axe-wielding robber wore high-vis clothing and three-piece suit in bodged heist of Leeds Post Office cash-van
A known thief tried to rob a security van full of cash while armed with an axe and dressed in his “Sunday best”, underneath a high-vis jacket and trousers.
Anthony Bryant later claimed he wore his three-piece suit because he wanted to be shot dead by police and buried in his nicest clothes.
The 54-year-old was jailed at Leeds Crown Court this week after admitting attempted robbery and possession of a bladed article.
He had been previously given an indefinite-length jail sentence in 2008 for conspiracy to rob.
The court heard that the cash-in-transit van had pulled up outside the Elford Grove Post Office on Harehills Road just before 11am on October 21 last year.
Bryant arrived at the scene on a bicycle and stopped, pretending to carry out work on the bike.
The security worker, was stood next to the van when Bryant barged into him and then began shouting at him to open the internal door while carrying the axe.
The worker told him he couldn’t because it required finger-print access.
Bryant pulled the officer out of the van, dragged him to the floor and again demanded he open the door.
He then dragged him into the van and threatened to chop his fingers off with the axe.
Members of the public intervened and removed the axe from Bryant, who fled the scene but was chased down and detained on Bayswater Road.
Suffering a seizure, he was taken to Leeds General Infirmary but struggled with a police officer when he was formally arrested at the hospital.
Bryant, of Leopold Street, Chapeltown, appeared in court this week via video link from HMP Leeds.
Mitigating, James Littlehales said Bryant had “spiralled” with is mental health since he was last released from jail, and wanted to be gunned down by police, although this was questioned by the judge who said he never said that in his police interview.
Mr Littlehales said: “He was effectively in his Sunday best - they were the clothes he wanted to be buried in.
“There was never any possibility he could get into the van.”
Judge Penelope jailed him for three years.