A man who robbed a bank and secreted the stolen cash in his anus was jailed for two and half years today.
Michael Geoffrey Linn was found out when police heard a rustling noise coming from his bottom.
On investigation they discovered a roll of nearly $2000 in notes protruding from his anus.
Linn, 36, unemployed, of Bannockburn, central Otago, pleaded guilty in May to robbing the BNZ Bank in Cromwell.
He walked into the bank in April, pulled a balaclava over his face and demanded money,
As a female staff member was filling a bag with cash he told her he was sorry.
"I didn't mean to frighten you but I'm very, very desperate."
He then drove to a lake, and tried to burn the clothes he had been wearing, using petrol and some papers from his car.
But nearby construction workers spotted the fire and used shovels to save some of the papers - which had Linn's name and address on them.
Linn was arrested a short time later and claimed he had given the cash to an associate.
But police found his money stash and he was arrested.
In Dunedin District Court today Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said the seriousness of the charge was such than imprisonment was appropriate.
Aggravating factors were premeditation, using a balaclava for disguise, and attempting to destroy evidence afterwards.
Further, Linn was under a community-based sentence at the time of the robbery.
The judge allowing a 12-month reduction from a starting point of 3 and 1/2 years to acknowledge his guilty plea.
