Bowlegs expose bank robber
A bank robber has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after his ex-girlfriend identified him on CCTV footage because of his bowlegs.The woman said in the witness stand at the Provincial Court in Ried im Innkreis, Upper Austria, yesterday (Thurs) that she was certain the man caught on camera during an armed bank hold-up was her old flame.Gottfried F. was given a three and a half year jail term for robbing a bank in Ried im Innkreis in October 2009. He got away with around 5,500 Euros in cash after telling clerks that the plastic bag he was carrying contained a bomb.The 56-year-old suspect was also found guilty of two attempted hold-ups at bank branches in Bad Füssing in the German state of Bavaria when he fled empty-handed after staff simply refused to hand over any money.The addicted gambler, who has debts of around 80,000 Euros, served time in prison before. He will now be jailed for four years and five months after having been released from prison early for good behaviour previously.The interior ministry said recently the number of crimes reported in the province of Upper Austria declined by 15.1 per cent year on year in the first six months of 2010. The number of bank robberies across Austria, meanwhile, soared from 41 to 53, the ministry added.Fewer than four in 10 (39.58 per cent) of crimes carried out in the countrys nine provinces between January and June were solved.