A BUNGLING bandit is beginning a second six-year jail stretch today after another botched raid following his release from jail.

A BUNGLING bandit is beginning a second six-year jail stretch today after another botched raid following his release from jail.

Hapless career criminal Douane Gregoire was also imprisoned for six years in May 2001 after trying to rob Chantry Post Office in Ipswich.

Now the former Ipswich man is back inside again after fleeing when staff foiled a brazen bank raid. The 47-year-old grandfather had only been just been released from prison for the attempted robbery in Chantry.

At his latest court appearance, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard Gregoire's blood was found at the HSBC bank in Pennfields, Wolverhampton. The raider had cut himself on broken glass during the theft in June.

Gregoire was among a gang of three rumbled when staff spotted the outer casement of a window at the back of the bank was missing. A sledgehammer had also been left against the rear wall and security bars loosened.

The alert was raised and a cash supply van which had been due to make a delivery was sent away.

The bank manager saw three hooded figures approach the window from outside, pull the bars off and smash the glass. The staff got out of the building, leaving the gang to steal �1,258.47 that was left lying about the room before making their escape.

Gregoire, of Aigburth Road, Liverpool, who pleaded guilty to burglary, was arrested in July. The court heard he had racked up similar offences all over the UK.

On May 7, 1999, Gregoire and two other masked raiders burst into Chantry post office. In May 2001, Ipswich Crown Court was told that during the commotion sub-postmaster William Spence Baker went outside and shouted for help. Two of the robbers fled in a getaway car but Gregoire, who comes from Liverpool but had lived in Ipswich, found himself locked in a glass partition behind the counter. He smashed the glass with a money bag in an attempt to escape.

The court heard Gregoire was currently serving five years in prison at the time of the hearing for committing a robbery in Liverpool. He was given a further six-year concurrent jail term.