The US might be in love with the gun, but here in dear old Blighty we hold up betting shops with bananas. Robert Downey, a real English character, and crack addict, thrust a banana through the security screen at the shop in Tower Hamlets threatening to shoot staff if they didn’t hand over money. But the brave british bookie has more mettle than that. He wasn’t to be intimidated by fruit, even from close range. Downey was then forced to use his trump card. He pulled out a pair of scissors. He had failed to realise that they didn’t shoot either, and after catching on to his mistake, he fled the shop.

As Downey had previous he could have received a life sentence for waving his banana about in public, but ‘escaped’ with seven years. And they say we are too soft on our criminals!