A bank robber who netted almost £5,000 after telling a terrified cashier in Birmingham he was armed with a gun has been jailed for five years.

Khalid Zaman’s attempt to flee with the cash from a NatWest branch in High Street, Kings Heath, was hampered when a dye pack planted amongst the notes exploded.

He was later arrested when police made a DNA match after he discarded a dye-stained jumper.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that Zaman, 29, of Woodstock Road, Moseley, who admitted robbery, had previously been sentenced to eight years imprisonment after carrying out a series of attacks on people using cash-points when he was armed with a gun.

The incident occurred on March 26 this year.