Bank Robber: My time with Andre Stander

Five bank robberies. Fifteen years in jail. That was the sentence handed down to Allan Heyl in 1977. He was twenty-six years old and couldn’t face that many years behind bars. By the time André Stander, ex-police captain and convicted bank robber, arrived at the prison, Heyl was well advanced with his plan to escape. The two of them teamed up, made their escape and proceeded to rob banks at an unprecedented rate. In this fast-paced, no-holds-barred, no-punches-pulled memoir, Heyl exposes the hell of prison life, revels in the sheer gung-ho audacity of robbing banks and hiding in plain sight, and reveals an inept and incompetent police force. As a member of the notorious ‘Stander Gang’, which both appalled and enthralled South Africans in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Allan became a career criminal. But this choice of lifestyle had its consequences ... With humour, fresh insight and self-revelation, the last surviving member of the so-called Stander Gang turns a critical eye on himself and the times in which he operated. This book takes you into the heart of a bank robber.