A machete-wielding robber who snatched $25,000 from security guards outside the Bank of Bermuda last year was sent to prison for seven years yesterday.

Randolph Lightbourne, 25, of Scott's Hill Road, Somerset, told Chief Justice the Hon. Sir James Astwood that he was sorry for his crime, and publicly apologised for the embarrassment and sorrow he caused his parents, wife and young child.

Mr. Richard Hector, defending, referred to the recent Archibald Report on drugs, which stressed the importance of rehabilitating criminals. "In the end,'' Mr. Hector said, "we need to avoid building up a bitter underclass who feel they have been abandoned.'' But Sir James called Lightbourne's robbery one of the worst possible types of crimes -- one that involved meticulous preparation and a dangerous machete attack that severed one guard's Achilles tendon.

As a judge, he said: "I have seen what can be done with a machete...I have seen heads busted open, brains showing. I have seen people's legs severed.

This is not a make-believe offence. This is one of the most severe that can be committed.'' Lightbourne, a plumber whose record includes several break and entry convictions, was given a seven-year prison term for robbery with an offensive weapon, two years for unlawful wounding and one year for stealing the motor cycle he used in his escape attempt -- all to be served concurrently.

The robbery occurred on May 9 last year, after apparently careful preparation by Lightbourne, said Mr. Barrie Meade for the Crown. He stole the bike specifically for the robbery, and bought the machete, a crash helmet with dark visor, stockings to use as a stocking mask and gloves.

At about 7:30 p.m., two Safeguard Security guards drove up to the Bank of Bermuda on Front Street with bags containing just under $25,000 in receipts from the MarketPlace groceries in Somerset and Heron Bay.

Guard Wycliffe Sinclair Ramsey sat in the van while his colleague Mervin Warner took the bags to the vault deposit slot. Lightbourne, his face hidden behind the dark helmet visor, approached with the machete raised above his head and demanded the money.

Warner hesitated and Lightbourne grabbed the bags and swung the machete, cutting the guard's ankle and severing his Achilles' tendon.

Warner went back towards Front Street while Lightbourne ran to the rear of the bank where his bike was parked. Ramsey pulled the van in front of Lightbourne's cycle, but Lightbourne struck the van and sped off with the money and machete.

Ramsey chased Lightbourne the wrong way up Par-la-Ville Road and struck the cycle and knocked it down at the junction with Rosebank Road. Lightbourne fled on foot up the steps to Par-la-Ville Park; Ramsey followed but lost sight of the robber.

By chance, the president of Safeguard Security, Paul Field, was riding his pedal cycle along Front Street. He saw his injured guard, and saw the van on Par-la-Ville Road. He pedalled north to Church Street, where he saw Lightbourne walking briskly towards Trott Road.

Field rode up behind Lightbourne, jumped on him and knocked him to the ground.

Lightbourne's crash helmet fell off during the struggle, but his face was still covered with a stocking mask.

Lightbourne freed himself, and ran off on Trott Road, throwing down his stocking mask as he went. Field shouted to passers-by for help, and followed Lightbourne.

Lightbourne dropped the money bags at the junction of Wesley Street and Park Road but kept running until Field caught him outside Masters Ltd. on Dundonald Street.

Field and another man, fireman Robert Davis, held Lightbourne until Police arrived. He was then taken to the Hamilton Police Station where, Mr. Meade said, he confessed.

A new machete was found in Par-la-Ville Park and the money was retrieved.