TWO Group 4 security guards stole £10,000 from the Royal Bank of Scotland while on a collection run.
Gary Docherty, 41, and Hugh Drummond, 47, took the money from the bank in Bruntsfield Place, Edinburgh, last Friday, Docherty's birthday.
Fiscal depute Neil Allan said the men were collecting cash in plastic carrier cases from branches of the bank
. At a branch of the bank in Bruntsfield Place, one of the cases containing bundles of £20 notes burst open.
Each guard helped himself to a bundle containing £5000.
The men continued with their run and eventually arrived at the Royal Bank of Scotland cash collection centre in The Gyle.
The fiscal said it immediately became apparent to staff there that the security of one of the cases had been compromised.
The case which should have contained £50,000 had only £40,000 in it.
A bundle of £5000 in £20 notes was found in Drummond's rucksack and detectives were called.
Docherty's rucksack was examined and the other bundle of £5000 was found.
Mr Allan said that Docherty at first claimed to be shocked and said he did not know how the £5000 came to be in his rucksack.
However, he tripped himself up by making a reference to £10,000 having been taken.
He then told the police: "The greedy part of me took over".
Docherty, of Clermiston Drive, Edinburgh, and Drummond, of Victoria Road, Harthill, pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday.
Sheriff Scott deferred sentence on both men for background reports and released them on bail.
The full article contains 265 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
