“I CAN’T be trusted with money in my hands,” a reformed bank van robbery gang member told police.

A Jaguar buyer gave Matthew Hawksby, 31, an envelope containing £3,200 in cash with instructions to conclude the purchase and bring him the car, said Jane Chadwick, prosecuting.

But Hawskby walked off with the money and did nothing about the car.

When police interviewed him, he told them “he cannot be trusted with cash in his hands,” she said.

His solicitor Richard Minion said Hawksby had built up a good reputation transporting cars and other vehicles in the York area after he was released from a three-year sentence for conspiracy to rob.

But he had now lost this reputation.

Hawksby, of Sheringham Drive, Woodthorpe, pleaded guilty to theft.

He was ordered to repay the victim all the money he had stolen and given a 12-month community order with 20 days’ rehabilitation activities and a curfew every Saturday and Sunday night from 6pm to 6am for six months.

In 2015 he was jailed for his part in the gang that carried out a £50,000 raid on two bank vans in Acomb in 2012.

Mrs Chadwick said the Jaguar buyer had put down a deposit for the car which was so badly damaged it had to be collected by a recovery truck from Sherburn-in-Elmet.

He was recommended to hire Hawksby to collect it by a friend.

But after being handed the money on June 19, Hawksby disappeared and didn’t answer phone calls or texts.

Mr Minion said Hawksby had led a law-abiding life since leaving prison and had not broken the law since 2012.

But he had lost stock worth more than £10,000 and run up debts of £20,000 when his business premises was destroyed by fire.

Hawksby had been gambling online to pay off debts.

He had got them down to £9,000 and was now working as a cleaner by night and a labourer by day to raise money.