Four years behind bars for Kelowna bank robber

A 26-year-old man fled with more than $43,000 in cash after he held up a Kelowna bank at gunpoint three years ago and now he'll spend the next four years in prison.

Alan Stuart Metcalfe was 23 years old when he walked into the Royal Bank branch on Pandosy Street in the Lower Mission in July 2020 with a handgun at his side, according to a recently published BC Supreme Court decision.

"This is not a drill," he told bank employees as he pointed the gun toward them.

There were eight employees and five customers inside. He told them he didn't want to hurt anyone and only wanted money, according to the decision.

He had employees pull money from a safe and three minutes later, Metcalfe fled the bank as police sirens approached. He ditched some of his clothes and the bag of cash as he fled, which had $42,980 in Canadian currency and $603 in U.S. currency.

Kelowna RCMP didn't catch Metcalfe that day, but a DNA test later matched him as the suspect, according to the decision.

He's been on bail since October 2021, awaiting a decision for his robbery charge.

It's not clear when Kelowna RCMP confirmed Metcalfe was the suspect, but it was more than a year after the robbery when he was charged in September 2021.

Justice Steven Wilson sentenced Metcalfe to four years in prison, which includes a lifetime firearms ban.

Wilson noted in his decision Metcalfe needed to plan the bank robbery, and it's now the third robbery he's been convicted of as an adult.

Metcalfe told the court he's a changed person, having started a career as a plumber in the years since the robbery.

"We have a man with family support who is still young enough to turn his life around. It appears from what I have been provided and what I have heard that he has made a good start to that with lots of progress," Wilson said.

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