that people have to be hurt but they do have to be intimidated. This can be achieved by screaming at them in a commanding voice – shock and fear then take over and work in your favour. From entering a bank until leaving with the prize should take no longer than 90 seconds. It is usually all over before people have time to react. This type of robbery is never going to yield you enough to retire but on a good day you can clear anywhere between four and ten grand, then equivalent to the annual average wage.
I had looked at a few banks in and around London and decided that it was easier to rob the target on foot and make my escape through the crowds with a few quick changes along the way. I would travel up to London on the express and return the same way. I did a few banks like this and nobody was ever aware.
On the Sunday evening of the first week of October Christine went into labour. My sister Olive had driven us to the Royal Berkshire hospital in Reading and around 6.30am the midwife informed me that it was going to be a very long labour and that I should go home. As I opened the front door the telephone rang. It was the hospital telling us that the birth was imminent and by the time we arrived Christine had delivered a beautiful baby boy.
No words can describe how I felt at that moment. All I can say is that I have never felt happier or more proud, but I was also filled with a sense of wonder as I looked down at this little bundle of joy. ‘Thank you, Christine,’ I said. ‘You have made my life complete and I love you so much.’ Nothing inmy life had come close to matching the glow I felt inside me that morning of Monday 8 October 1973. We named our son James Anthony Cryans and he was a truly special wee guy, perfect in every way. The emptiness I had always felt inside had almost totally disappeared. I almost felt invincible, and that can be dangerous in my line of work.
Christine stayed at home so that she could give baby James her full attention and I was still working as a hod carrier, not the best job in the world during the winter months. I still only weighed just over nine stone but I was deceptively strong and had an amazing amount of stamina which allowed me to work all day carrying bricks up ladders. I was very good and was paid top whack, about £15 a day. But that did not stop me from always being on the lookout for any earners.
As I made my way home after work one late afternoon I stopped to look at some Christmas goodies in a shop that specialised in the finer things in life. It was like a mini-Fortnum & Masons. As I was looking through the window I became aware that the manager was securing all of the day’s takings in a safe that was in full view of where I stood. He wasn’t aware that I was observing him and then he did something that almost caused me to shout out, ‘Ah, come, on you’re having a laugh,’ because after locking the safe he then dropped the key into a vase that was sitting on top of it! Un-fucking-believable! For the next few nights, standing out of sight, I watched him go through the same routine again and I decided to steal the full weekend takings.
The front door was a series of glass panels measuring about 18 inches square so it would simply be a case of removing one and squeezing through. There was no alarm of any description. The one weakness from my point of view was thatthe doorway was right on the busiest street in Newbury. I was going to need a lookout, someone who could stand in the doorway and give me cover.
I had a pal, Jamie, in mind who I knew would be up for it and everything went as planned. Before I opened the safe I checked through the back and on hearing noises coming from the floor above, I silently crept up the stairs and very gently opened a door an inch to see the manager and his good lady sitting on a sofa in what was their living room, watching TV. I quietly returned to the safe, emptied it and left the same way as I had gained entry. My pal hadn’t
I had looked at a few banks in and around London and decided that it was easier to rob the target on foot and make my escape through the crowds with a few quick changes along the way. I would travel up to London on the express and return the same way. I did a few banks like this and nobody was ever aware.
On the Sunday evening of the first week of October Christine went into labour. My sister Olive had driven us to the Royal Berkshire hospital in Reading and around 6.30am the midwife informed me that it was going to be a very long labour and that I should go home. As I opened the front door the telephone rang. It was the hospital telling us that the birth was imminent and by the time we arrived Christine had delivered a beautiful baby boy.
No words can describe how I felt at that moment. All I can say is that I have never felt happier or more proud, but I was also filled with a sense of wonder as I looked down at this little bundle of joy. ‘Thank you, Christine,’ I said. ‘You have made my life complete and I love you so much.’ Nothing inmy life had come close to matching the glow I felt inside me that morning of Monday 8 October 1973. We named our son James Anthony Cryans and he was a truly special wee guy, perfect in every way. The emptiness I had always felt inside had almost totally disappeared. I almost felt invincible, and that can be dangerous in my line of work.
Christine stayed at home so that she could give baby James her full attention and I was still working as a hod carrier, not the best job in the world during the winter months. I still only weighed just over nine stone but I was deceptively strong and had an amazing amount of stamina which allowed me to work all day carrying bricks up ladders. I was very good and was paid top whack, about £15 a day. But that did not stop me from always being on the lookout for any earners.
As I made my way home after work one late afternoon I stopped to look at some Christmas goodies in a shop that specialised in the finer things in life. It was like a mini-Fortnum & Masons. As I was looking through the window I became aware that the manager was securing all of the day’s takings in a safe that was in full view of where I stood. He wasn’t aware that I was observing him and then he did something that almost caused me to shout out, ‘Ah, come, on you’re having a laugh,’ because after locking the safe he then dropped the key into a vase that was sitting on top of it! Un-fucking-believable! For the next few nights, standing out of sight, I watched him go through the same routine again and I decided to steal the full weekend takings.
The front door was a series of glass panels measuring about 18 inches square so it would simply be a case of removing one and squeezing through. There was no alarm of any description. The one weakness from my point of view was thatthe doorway was right on the busiest street in Newbury. I was going to need a lookout, someone who could stand in the doorway and give me cover.
I had a pal, Jamie, in mind who I knew would be up for it and everything went as planned. Before I opened the safe I checked through the back and on hearing noises coming from the floor above, I silently crept up the stairs and very gently opened a door an inch to see the manager and his good lady sitting on a sofa in what was their living room, watching TV. I quietly returned to the safe, emptied it and left the same way as I had gained entry. My pal hadn’t
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