A big-eared bank raider nicknamed Shrek is behind bars today after being warned he is 'too ugly' to commit crime.

Unfortunate David Holyoak, 33, has rather distinctive looks and his features make it easy for police to get his description and locate him.

As Holyoak, of Whitefield, Manchester, began a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for robbery yesterday, one officer said: 'This man only needs to look at himself in the mirror to realise crime is not for him.

'With his big ears and rotund features he stands out a mile, and the officers have no trouble spotting him. He must be a total liability when he is part of a gang.

'He has already been dubbed Shrek and must be one of the ugliest robbers in the country.'

Holyoak was part of a gang who robbed a Halifax bank near Preston and threatened the cashier with a sledgehammer.

They smashed a glass security window, climbed the counter and stole cash. But it was elementary for police to identify Holyoak as one of the robbers, after they got a clear eyewitness description of him ... and his ears.

However, before they arrested him, Holyoak struck again when a security guard delivered cash to a post office in Bury. As the guard walked in, a car pulled up outside and Holyoak and his accomplices got out, carrying a weapon and wearing masks.

The driver of a police surveillance car, following the armoured van, saw the men run inside and radioed the guard to warn him of their attack.

The robbers stole the cash box and ran to a getaway car. It roared out of a side street but ploughed straight into a tree.

The robbers leapt out and fled but Holyoak, and two accomplices, were found hiding in a garden.

Holyoak, described as a 'dangerous individual,' pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court with three others to robbery.