Blunders

Blunders of the criminally stupid

Mark Cason, 29, decided to rob the post office at Morganstown, near Cardiff, close to where he grew up. Forgetting to don the balaclava and gloves he purchased for the purpose, he put on a pair of sunglasses and then approached the counter with his savings book.

After asking the sub-postmaster if the post office was open, he drew a replica gun and said, "This is serious. Give me the keys to the safe." He grabbed £9,500 but, because his hands were full of cash, he had to ask the children outside to open the door for him. They wrote down the number of his car as it became stuck in traffic.

Cason took the train to Stockport, where he checked into a hotel, telling the receptionist "If the police ask for me, I'm not here."

After a two-day stay, during which time he ran up a £3,000 bar bill buying champagne for other guests, the police caught up with him. When asked his occupation, the former paratrooper said he was an armed robber.

Non-ferrous metal smuggling is big business in the former Soviet Union. Two thieves were electrocuted as they tried to steal copper wire from a high voltage sub-station in the Siberian city of Kranoyarsk last June. They were hit by a charge of 10,000 volts. The resultant blaze caused damage of more than £500,000 in an adjacent tyre factory.