An Italian shopkeeper with an incurable tumour confessed to committing 13 bank robberies in 18 months but said he did it to care for his family after his death, a police official said on Monday.
The 53-year-old man raked in a haul of €115 000 before being spotted by chance by plainclothes police, police said.
The robber told investigators that he learned he had an incurable tumour in July 2003 and decided to shut his clothes shop because he did not have enough energy to run it.
However, he feared leaving his family in financial difficulties after his death. — Sapa-AFP