‘I robbed six banks out of desperation. Then I got greedy’: the Kangaroo Bandit on crime, family and regret

Cain Vincent Dyer became one of the most prolific bank robbers in the US before handing himself in. He tells his remarkable story, from being in debt to a drug cartel to his attempts to wipe his slate clean

From the driver's seat of his car, pulled up outside a shopping plaza in Calabasas, California, Cain Vincent Dyer sat, casing a branch of Washington Mutual bank. He monitored various things: the number of people who came and left; what customers and staff were doing. It was guesswork, really, making up his mind when to hit it. Dyer had never robbed a bank before.

It was mid-morning, in August 1999. A few hours earlier, still dark outside, Dyer had grabbed his war bag", complete with gun, gloves, matches, a lighter and a metal bar, and driven north through Los Angeles from his home in Mission Viejo. He'd taken Interstate 405 and joined Route 101. During an impromptu bathroom stop, he'd settled on this target at random. He'd already tried to rob the place once, an hour or so earlier. That first attempt was abandoned before it even started. I'd walked towards the door, but noticed a pregnant lady entering at the same time," Dyer says now, 23 years later. I couldn't risk scaring her into an early labour. When I turned back around, I noticed my reflection. Yes, I was wearing a baseball cap and glasses, but I was still very identifiable. I realised how close I'd been to making a massive error."