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Washington, whose real name is Steve Tate, pleaded guilty to holding up a Lloyds TSB branch in Folkestone in July, while waving a gift-wrapped music-stand he tried to pass off as a gun. He also told the bank staff he had a bomb strapped to his body and would detonate it if they didn't follow his directions. After stealing about $2,200, he rode away on a bicycle, The Times of London said.

The 46-year-old musician reportedly was arrested after a witness saw him stuffing the money into his pockets on a nearby beach.

He is said to have needed the money to pay off a $700 drug debt, as well as his rent.

"At one stage he was the top pick of his profession", The Times quoted Washington's lawyer Andrew Espley as saying. "The fact that he used a bicycle as a getaway vehicle says something about his ineptness."

"The bank employees must have been absolutely terrified. They didn't know if it was a gun or not and there was the absurd thought that you might let off a bomb attached to your leg", Judge Andrew Patience said in a handing down his sentence. "Long after you have served your sentence such people will still be suffering."

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