Wig similar to one worn by bank robbers found at suspect's home, court told

POLICE officers who searched the home of a bank raid suspect found a wig just like one worn by a man who carried out the raid, a court has been told.

POLICE officers who searched the home of a bank raid suspect found a wig similar to the one worn by a man who carried out the raid, a court has been told.

Michael Dunphy (45), of HMP Doncaster, is on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of four counts of kidnap and three counts of attempted robbery.

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Dunphy is alleged to have been part of a gang who kidnapped a bank employee, her seven-year-old daughter, and two of her colleagues while dressed as police officers in an attempt to steal £500,000 from a safe at the Stag branch of Barclays in November last year.

Three of the would-be robbers followed the bank employee from her home in a stolen Audi on November 21 last year.

They are said to have kidnapped the bank employee, her daughter and, later, her colleagues Zoe Copley and Jo Blakey.

Mr Nicholas Campbell, prosecuting, said Dunphy had been staying at a home in Braithwell in the weeks leading up to the robbery.

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He told the jury today (Tuesday) that a woman living near Dunphy’s Braithwell address said she had seen him changing the registration plates of a white van - the prosecution claim this was the van used in the robbery getaway.

Dunphy was later identified by the bank’s manager as being responsible for the robbery and for walking two of her colleagues into the bank’s safe room.

Following Dunphy’s arrest, officers searched his Manchester home for evidence and found a wig similar to one worn by one of the burglars seen on security footage.

Mr Campbell said: “The prosecution can’t say that this is the very same wig worn by that aggressive robber but you might find that they appear similar.”

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Dunphy’s DNA was among those found on the wig, Mr Campbell told the court.

Following the robbery, the gang drove the stolen Audi to a car park in Wickersley, doused it with petrol, and set it alight.

He said a woman who was overtaken by the Audi in bumper-to-bumper traffic followed it into the car park to speak to the driver.

She saw two men with their faces covered with bandanas carrying petrol cans.

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“She watched as one of them started pouring what she described as petrol on the front of the car, the other man pouring it on the back of the car,” Mr Campbell told the court.

One of the men gestured at her to move away and, by the time she left the car park, the car was alight.

“Others in the car park were fleeing for their safety as she telephoned police,” Mr Campbell told the court.

The trial continues.

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