Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Leeds Live
Leeds Live
National
Sophie Corcoran

Man robbed £5,000 from Leeds Yorkshire Building Society then threw it into the air saying he'd 'won the Lottery'

A man robbed a bank of £5,000 then threw the money into the air and told people he had "won the lottery."

Kieran McIlvenny, 49, was released on bail after being arrested on suspicion of taking a car without consent on August 19 last year when he went into Argos in Leeds city centre and bought a knife set.

McIlvenny then binned all of the knives but one - a 12cm bread knife - and took it with him to the Yorkshire Building Society in Briggate.

Read more: Man jailed for 'horrific' attack after police catch him at Leeds Bradford Airport

Prosecutor Ian Cook told Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday: "At around 9.45am he went to the Yorkshire Building Society. He asked to open a bank account and a staff member asked her colleague to deal with the defendant.

"He took him into a private meeting room and started to tell him about the products he could offer him and he tood up and walked around to his side of the desk and produced a knife."

McIlvenny told the man: "It's a robbery, don't move, don't react or I will use it."

The staff member was instructed to take McilVenny to where he could access money. The man entered the pin code to two different areas which can only be accessed by staff, including the tills.

Mr Cook said: "Two women were working behind the cash desk and he said, 'Sorry ladies, I have to do this.' He said he had a knife and wasn't going to hurt them. He was shown how to open the cash drawers and started taking cash from there before moving onto the tills. He took out the cash from bags and put it in a carrier bag."

As he left the building, McIlvenny told a staff member that when he called the police, he should tell them he would be "at the top of Briggate."

When officers from West Yorkshire Police arrived at the scene, McIlvenny was spotted handing the cash to members of the public and throwing it into the air. As officers arrested McIlvenny in King Edward Street, he said: "I've just won the Lottery."

Mr Cook said that Yorkshire Building Society said McIlvenny had stolen around £5,000 during the robbery. Officers managed to recover £200 from the street but McIlvenny was only found to be in possession of £5.

During his interview, McIlvenny said that he had been released from custody earlier that day and been taken to a Premier Inn where there were no available rooms. He told officers he had gone into Leeds city centre knowing he was going to commit a robbery. He added that he "needed to get back to prison" and "had every intention of robbing somewhere and giving money to the public."

The court heard McIlvenny has previous convictions for robbery. In 1998 he was sentenced to six years imprisonment for robbery, and in he was also later jailed for 14 and a half years for eight offences of robbery and six offences of possessing an imitation firearm.

Shila Whitehead, mitigating, told the court McIlvenny had a history of suffering with his mental health. A doctor from Newton Lodge Medium Secure Unit told the court in her evidence McIlvenny had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and personality disorders. The court heard he has been spending time at Newton Lodge since his remand, but was declared fit to plea in April this year.

She said: "He has command hallucinations telling him to harm other people but there has been no evidence of this and he has not been involved in violent behaviour towards others. When he came to us he believed he had a chip inserted into his arm that he attempted to remove, causing some injury to himself.

"Since he has been with us, those ideas have been reduced and that desire to remove the chip has been reduced."

Ms Whitehead said of McIlvenny's previous convictions: "He has a history, I can't get away from that. What needs to happen is intervention so this doesn't happen again."

Judge Robin Mairs jailed McIllvenny for five years and four months. He will spend part of his sentence at Newton Lodge, who will determine how long that time will be before he is sent to spend time in prison. The judge told the court that before the offence, McIlvenny had not been compliant with his medication, and had drunk alcohol and taken illegal drugs.

He told him: "You will be detained in hospital for as long as necessary. Once that time is up you will be removed to prison. You will serve half of this sentence and you will be released when you have reached that halfway point and your release will be subject to conditions."

Read more

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.