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'The bank has been robbed... I did it'
A GOTH walked into Eastbourne's HSBC bank with a 13-inch knife, stole more than £6,500 and then handed out the cash in a sandwich shop.
Frater Osiris Xnoubis – known as Fox because of his initials – has been jailed for three-and-a-half-years.
The 39-year-old handed himself in, but police would have no doubt caught up with him anyway, as an illustrator was standing next to him when he carried out the armed robbery and was able to draw the life-like picture of the wanted man.
Three months ago, on Tuesday, September 1, at 3.25pm, Xnoubis, a well-known face in the town who worked in The Darkside goth shop in Terminus Road and had previously raised hundreds of pounds for charity, walked into the town centre bank, queued for a cashier and handed over a note which read, "I'm armed. Keep quiet and no one will get hurt. Please empty your drawer and say thank you sir as usual."
The terrified cashier thought he must have a gun and showed a colleague the note, who signalled to her to hand over the 6,570 in her till.
Xnoubis put the bundles of notes into a carrier bag and left the bank saying, "Have a nice day."
He was dressed in distinctive black goth-style clothes and a customer knew him as 'Fox'.
Another customer, a quick-thinking illustrator, penned this accurate sketch of Xnoubis' face and clothes.
Xnoubis then walked the short distance to the Gildredge Pub and handed over 20 of the stolen cash for a bottle of beer. He left his leather jacket and the knife in the pub toilets.
He next went across the road to Harringtons sandwich shop to see his landlord, who owns the room Xnoubis lived in in Glynde Avenue, and said he had just robbed a bank.
Xnoubis put the carrier bag of notes on the sandwich shop table and said, "You are all good people, help yourselves."
Xnoubis then walked to the police station in nearby Grove Road and said, "I've come to report a crime. The bank opposite Natwest has just been robbed. I did it."
He told them that they could find a weapon and his leather jacket in the pub toilet cubicle.
Officers who searched his room also found a samurai sword with a six-and-a-half inch blade and a knife with a four-inch blade. He said he used the three weapons for pagan rituals.
Police recovered 6,215 of the stolen money and returned it to the bank. 355 is still missing.
On Friday (November 27), Hove Crown Court heard how Xnoubis said he had no idea what made him carry out the armed robbery.
Defending Xnoubis, who pleaded guilty, Justin Rivett described the 'unusual case' and said, "It would appear that his low mood and depressive state played a part in the decision making process."
In sentencing, Judge Charles Kemp said to Xnoubis, who was wearing small dark glasses, with his long hair tied back, "Your conduct is bizarre, to put it mildly."
He referred to a psychiatrist's report which did not find a personality disorder or that he was mentally ill.
Judge Kemp said, "You profess to following a style or a calling known as 'goth' and that is your chosen way of life. What is not acceptable is for people to wander around with a 13-inch knife in their pocket."
The judge ordered that all three knives be destroyed.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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