‘Hanged suspect had gambling addiction’

‘Hanged suspect had gambling addiction’

THE 50-year old man who killed himself last Tuesday as police were close to arresting him on suspicion of carrying out two armed robberies reportedly left a suicide note to his father confessing his gambling addiction, it emerged yesterday.

According to yesterday’s Politis, the man left a note before hanging himself, calling on his father to look after his children. The 50-year-old reportedly told his father that due to his gambling addiction, he had amassed huge debts that he could not pay off.

The man is believed to have carried out two armed bank robberies in Nicosia, one at gunpoint, the other with a knife -- on December 2 and January 29 – getting away with some €10,500.

He wore sunglasses and a leather jacket during the robberies, making no other effort to cover his face.

Police had managed to track him down, searching his car where they found a leather jacket and knife, linking him to the robberies.

However, after searching his flat, they found the 50-year-old man hanged in a small boiler room on the roof of his apartment building in Aglandjia.

According to Politis, the man’s reference to a gambling addiction explains a comment he allegedly made to clerks when robbing a bank, when he said: “Give me all the cash because it’s been two months since I had my fix.”