A FEARED figure from the Glasgow underworld has spoken for the first time about his part in one of Torquay's most notorious crimes.

The terrifying attempted bank robbery at the former NatWest bank on The Strand in 1991 led to Ian 'Blink' McDonald and his gang receiving a total of 101 years in jail.

McDonald has been back in the headlines in recent months after gangsters planted a bomb under his Mercedes and slashed his face.

He says his nickname 'Blink' relates to his younger days. The 'legend' is that he killed people and if 'you blink you are dead'.

He has now apologised to the Torquay bank clerk for the trauma caused when she was left bleeding after a shotgun was fired in the raid.

McDonald was 30 when he and the armed gang burst out of a cubby hole they had built into the bank's staircase overnight.

They demanded the £3million stash of cash which the gang believed was in the vault of the bank, which is now a Wetherspoon's pub, the London Inn.

The gang's meticulously planned break-in was wrecked when a member of staff with the key to the vault was late for the only time in his career.

Speaking to the Herald Express for the first time from his Glasgow home, McDonald, now 48, explained why they targeted Torquay.

He said: "We heard the bank was a holding vault for Devon and there was a few million in there.

"Everything went to plan except for the guy who had the key — Roy the chief cashier, who was late for work that morning."

The moment was raised when the armed gang went on trial at the Old Bailey in London.

McDonald recalls: "At the Old Bailey Roy was asked by my QC how long he had worked at the bank. I think he said in seven or eight years it was the first time he was late.

"I just held my head in my hands. I thought to myself 'just get it over with and sentence me now'. It was fate."

He revealed how the gang broke into the bank by the back door at about 10pm the night before the planned raid and even played pool in the bank's staff recreation room overnight.

McDonald says: "There were 14 staff when they came in in the morning. We jumped out."

The gang disabled the bank's alarms system and staff were forced to open the vault.

"They came out with a trolley. But it was all paperwork," said McDonald.

He added: "There was another gate called the treasury grill, and that's where the cash was. They hadn't opened it.

"When Roy arrived late for work he was ringing the bell to get in.

"The manager was trying to say 'Let me open the door. The guy with the key is there.' But we just didn't believe him, there was no way we were going to open the door."

McDonald recalls how the raiders then panicked and a shotgun fired into the ceiling.

The shot was fired so close to the female bank clerk's head it parted her hair and plaster fell from the wall, cutting her head.

McDonald says: "In the Scottish press they always said the bank clerk was shot in the head. But the shotgun was fired and the velocity of it took a bit of her hair away. The plaster came down and cut her head, and everybody was screaming she has been shot."

He says he remembers the bank worker and says he regrets what happened.

He says: "I do feel remorse for that," says McDonald.

"The staff were just going in to try to get the money. But when they were all lying down outside the vault we thought they were all kidding that none of them had the key.

"There was no intention of shooting anybody. It was supposed to be a warning shot for them to produce the key. It just all went topsy-turvy."

The gang made their getaway in a BMW parked in nearby Parkhill Road.

But their number plate was taken down by a suspicious painter and decorator.

McDonald and one of his accomplices, James Healy, were arrested by undercover police officer hours later at the former Grange Holiday Park in Paignton where they were trying to dump leftover gear from the bank job at the holiday park's pond.

McDonald, though, managed to give police the slip. He freed himself from handcuffs and escaped by jumping out of the rear caravan window while an armed police officer stood guard outside.

McDonald was eventually arrested five weeks later by undercover officers at a Chinese restaurant in the East End of Glasgow.

He recalls: "It was so surreal. They had me up in the air and I was going blue. They had already taken a gun out of my pocket. I thought I was going to die.

"This little Chinese guy ran over and I thought he was going to say let him go — the guy is going blue. But all he shouted was 'who is paying this bill?'"

McDonald said he was 'devastated' after his 16-year sentence, with an extra six months for evading police. He was released in April, 2004.

Other members of the gang received jail terms ranging from 16 to 19 years for their part in the botched raid.

Retired Torbay detective Tom Brown worked on the case.

He remembers: "We had some in custody, and some on the run. We knew they were a big criminal team. We worked daily with the Scottish Crime Squad. The offenders were known to be very dangerous. They were very much involved with the Scottish criminal underworld and at the time there were a lot of murders."