The Tameside Labour councillor who finished up sewing mailbags in Wormwood Scrubs.

 

Today, the mealy-mouthed local press in Tameside, is reluctant to express criticism of Tameside Council or to expose the shortcomings of its councillors to public glare and scrutiny. However, in 1996, the local Tameside Reporter, ran a front-page exclusive story about a former Tameside Labour councillor called Craig Brodie, who was charged with armed bank robbery. He was remanded to Wormwood Scrubs and subsequently tried at the Old Bailey and convicted. I think he was given a rather lenient sentence of five years’ imprisonment.

I remember reading about the case. Brodie had held the bank up with a glue gun which he was carrying in a bag. The bank, which was situated in Islington, was a branch of the Midland Bank. One of the bank staff hit the alarm/panic button and Brodie was confronted by a posse of armed police officers as he was leaving the bank, with his swag bag full of cash. Upon seeing the armed police officers stood outside the bank, Brodie shouted, "Don't Shoot, Don't Shoot, I'm not a terrorist."

Brodie, had been a Labour councillor for Droylsden, along with two other Manchester wide-boys, called Kieran Quinn and Ged Cooney. I think all three were brought up in Droylsden and may have been Roman Catholics and of Irish ancestry. They may also have been school friends.

Brodie's political career as a Tameside Labour councillor, seems to have come to an abrupt and sudden end after he was convicted of assaulting a fellow Tameside Labour councillor, called Lee Henderson. It was claimed in court that Brodie had launched a kung-Fu-style kick at him during a quarrel.

Brodie, a former Chairman of the Tameside Education Committee, vowed to clear his name but seems to have left the area in disgrace and moved to London, where he became a rather incompetent and inept bank robber, who finished up sewing mailbags in Wormwood Scrubs.