A High Court judge has praised the bravery of Fife post office staff who disarmed a robber of his imitation firearm.
Lord Scott made the comments after seeing footage of Robert Danskin’s failed bid to rob premises at the NISA local store in Abbey View, Dunfermline, in June 2024.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard how the 36-year-old crook walked into the shop wearing a balaclava and brandishing a weapon.
Prosecutor Anna Chishoim said it looked “indistinguishable” from a real gun.
Danskin demanded staff member Cheryl Gourlay fill a bag with money before jumping over a counter and assault her by seizing her body.
Brave Cheryl put herself in front of the till and refused to comply with his requests.
Ms Chisholm said: “Cheryl Gourlay told him he wasn’t getting money.”
She then shouted to her colleagues, who rushed to help.
Lord Scott saw colleagues run to the counter and one wrestled the pistol out of Danskin’s hand whilst punching him.
Others pulled Danskin’s balaclava off his head, wrestled him to the ground and restrained him there until the police arrived.
The court heard Danskin had a conviction for a similar offence in 2007, prompting Lord Scott to defer sentence for reports.
He said: “Notwithstanding the real bravery of a number of individuals who intervened, this must have been a terrifying incident in which no one other than the accused was aware that this wasn’t a real firearm.”
Danskin, of Dunfermline, pled guilty to assault and attempted robbery.
Members of the community launched a fundraiser to thank the post office staff for putting “their lives at risk” to disarm the robber and “save” shoppers.
On Wednesday, Ms Chisholm said following his arrest, Danskin told officers that he wasn’t a “bad person”.
She said he was in debt to drug dealers and was concerned he and his partner were going to be harmed by them.
She added: “He said ‘me and my girlfriend have a £1,000 crack debt. In a a weird way I wanted to get caught so I could go to jail and be safe there.”
Ms Chisholm told the court police officers examined the firearm and found it was an Airsoft BB gun.
The advocate depute said the gun had originally been covered in blue paint to keep it in line with firearms legislation but this had been removed to make it look realistic.
Danskin will be sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on November 7 2024.
For more local court content visit our page or join us on Facebook.
