An armed robber was caught when the cash box he had stolen filled his getaway vehicle with red smoke, a court heard today.
Daniel Carlin (27), from west Belfast, was seen hanging out of the car with an accomplice as he made his way down the Larne to Ballymena road in a thick haze of chemical gases following the June 2006 robbery.
The thieves' car was found abandoned in west Belfast and the cash box was dumped in a river after the contents had been ruined by the red dye. The dye is emitted when a box is opened incorrectly.
The robber, who has an IQ of a seven-year-old and a long criminal record, was arrested after he stopped at a filling station to buy wipes to clean the dye from his arms and was caught on CCTV.
The victim, Michael Gilliland, was stopped when he picked up cash from a clothing store in Larne. He was threatened with an iron bar by an accomplice of Carlin's and was left badly shocked.
The duo had seized a cash box and money worth £4,700 during in the theft.
Sentencing was adjourned to next week.