Bank robber Ross Oliver McCarty caught 40 years later by withdrawal slip
A 71-year-old former stockbroker was jailed last week for a series of Sydney bank robberies in the ‘70s. But it can now be revealed how the bank withdrawal slips used in the alcohol-fuelled heists finally led to his downfall 40 years later.
NSW
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A bank withdrawal slip kept by police for nearly 40 years led to the downfall of Sydney bank robber Ross Oliver McCarty.
The now 71-year-old scribbled terrifying threats on withdrawal slips before handing them over to unsuspecting tellers in a string of bank robberies in the 1970s — and those messages were ultimately his undoing.
The notes, which carry his fingerprints and sat in evidence lockers for decades, have been obtained from the case files by The Daily Telegraph.
“Hold up — gun in bag,” one of his handwritten notes menacingly warned, demanding $2000 in cash.
And he even had the courtesy to write the date on the slip — June 3, 1977.
McCarty is today behind bars after he pleaded guilty to multiple stick-ups in Sydney between May 1977 and March 1978.
He was last week sentenced to a minimum of 18 months jail after NSW Police linked him to the crimes through a fingerprint hit while re-examining cold cases.
According to a statement of facts, McCarty told police last year that he would drink with clients over lunch before robbing banks in the afternoon while boozed up.
McCarty was working as a stockbroker in the city and drinking heavily on the long lunches. Afterwards, wearing an assortment of disguises — including sunglasses, a fake moustache, a beret or a terry-towelling hat — and carrying a water pistol, he would march into a bank and hand the notes to tellers.
It wasn’t until the case for seven of the hold-ups was reopened in 2018 and a fingerprint analysis was carried out that McCarty was identified, due to fraud offences of which he was convicted in 2010.
Detective Acting Superintendent Grant Taylor, who is the boss of NSW’s Police Robbery and Serious Crime Squad, said modern technology and forensics had made it harder for crooks such as McCarty to evade detection.
“The investigation of armed robberies in the ’70s and ’80s, in particular on banking institutions, relied heavily on witness testimony, photographic evidence from the banks, CCTV systems and … informants, who helped lead detectives to their suspects,” he said.
“Technology has naturally allowed detectives to expand their toolbox of tricks and methods to identify the perpetrators and to collect the evidence needed.”
But Det Supt Taylor said modern policing would always draw on the “tried and true” methods of classic police work — as detectives did in McCarty’s heyday.
“Modern armed robbery investigators get much of their inspiration and trade craft from learning from our cherished detectives of yesteryear who experienced it all and often only had their skill of communication, interaction with all manner of people on the street, and their nous to succeed,” he said.
“The court’s decision is a credit to the tireless work of investigators and a reminder to those who have committed serious crimes — regardless of when they happened — that our detectives will do everything they can to make sure you are held accountable.”
McCarty will be eligible for parole in March 2022.
Originally published as Bank robber Ross Oliver McCarty caught 40 years later by withdrawal slip