AN electrician's mate working in a bank overnight could not resist temptation when he saw bank notes left in an unlocked till drawer.

While no one was looking Anthony Schruyers grabbed the bundle and went back to his work thinking he was £1,000 to £2,000 better off.

But while standing on a ladder by a ventilation duct he suddenly found himself covered in red dye and surrounded by red smoke, for unknown to him the bundle was actually a security device.

Schruyers, of Avondale Road in Widnes, went home and did not return, and after staff found the next morning that the pack was missing he was arrested.

He denied the theft and told a jury that the smoke and dye security pack, which was wrapped in two £20 notes, must have been left in the ventilation duct and accidentally gone off when he was near it, but after a trial he was found guilty.

Jailing him last Wednesday for nine months, Judge Charles James said: "You thought you were stealing a large amount of money.

"Maybe you intended to put it inside the Ventaxia until the time came at the end of the shift to leave the bank."

He told 30-year-old Schruyers that a custodial sentence was inevitable.

As he was led to the cells both he and his pregnant partner, who was sitting in the public gallery, broke down in tears.

Gareth Bellis, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that overnight on August 10 last year Schruyers was working on a temporary basis for contractors carrying out renovation work at the Barclays Bank in Bebington, Wirral.

At around 10.30 pm, while standing on a ladder, he let out a yell and other workers saw smoke coming from the vicinity of a ventilation duct and from Schruyers, who had red dye on his hands, clothing and mobile phone.

The next day staff found that one of the smoke and dye security packs kept in the tills in case of robberies was missing.

These are set off after removal by sensors in the building, he explained.

Nicola Daley, defending, said Schruyers has previous convictions but had never been to jail, and he was concerned because he supports his pregnant partner and their one-year-old son.

He works as a computer network and telecom supervisor in London taking home £600 a week and she suggested if he was not jailed he could pay the substantial costs of the case.