An armed robber was caught after a security guard likened him to The Cat from the television comedy series Red Dwarf.
Usman Ali made off with £14,000 after threatening a Loomis driver with a hammer outside a Wickes store in Birmingham on July 26 2014.
The next day Ali, also from Birmingham, was spotted ploughing hundreds of pounds of stained notes into gaming machines at a Ladbrokes near his home.
Officers swooped immediately and recognised the 26-year-old as the suspect in the Loomis robbery.
Scientific analysis of the contaminated notes confirmed they had come from the stolen cash box − and at Birmingham Crown Court Ali was jailed for eight years after being found guilty of conspiracy to rob.
West Midlands Police Detective Constable Andrew Mitcham, said: 'Ali was at the bookies with the sole purpose of getting rid of the dye-stained notes and taking his winnings receipt to the counter to get clean notes.
'It was effectively quick-fire money laundering.
'The victim gave us a distinctive description and said his attacker looked like "Cat" from Red Dwarf − and in court prosecutors presented an image of the character to the jury to illustrate the comparison.
'The prosecutor clearly had a sense of humour as in his closing speech he said "Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, the robbery at Wickes has his (pointing at Ali) name on it" - in a clear reference to the company's advertising slogan!
Although he didn't use the hammer in anger, he threatened violence against the security driver and left him fearing the threats would be carried out.
'We were able to present strong evidence to the court which highlighted his lies to police and led to the jury unanimously finding him guilty.'
When Ladbrokes staff emptied the gaming machine Ali was using they discovered £480 in dye-stained notes, whilst arresting officers found another £400 in tainted cash on the 26-year-old.
Ali claimed he had got the cash after selling off car parts but could not name the buyer or provide a contact number.
At the time of the robbery Ali was on licence having been released from prison part-way through a conviction for supplying Class A drugs.
He must now serve the remainder of that sentence − which runs until September 2016 − before his eight year robbery term begins.
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