A HOMELESS man robbed a bank and then took the cash to council offices to pay off his rent arrears.

Andrew Skinner pretended he had a gun in his pocket when he walked into a Hampshire branch of Lloyds Bank, a court heard.

The terrifed cashier handed over more than £1,000 to Skinner who immediately went to his local council offices where he flung the money on a desk and walked out.

The court heard that unemployed Skinner, 45, had had "some sort of breakdown".

He was jailed for two and a half years.

Full story in today's Daily Echo.