A leading pop drummer fell on hard times and held up a bank with a music stand disguised as a gun, a court heard.

Steve Tate, who toured the world with Take That, had the stand wrapped in gift paper when he brandished it at a female cashier and demanded money.

The 46-year-old musician fled with £1,200 and was later seen transferring the cash on the beach from a guitar case to his pockets.

Now Tate, of Rendezvous Street, Folkestone, has been jailed for four years after admitting robbery.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Tate was an “astonishingly talented musician”, having also played with Texas, Wet, Wet, Wet and Nik Kershaw.

Ed Connell, prosecuting, said Tate went into Lloyds TSB in Cheriton High Street, Folkestone, on July 22 and paced around until there was one customer left.

He then pulled a black balaclava from his guitar case and put it over his head. He took the music stand in the wrapping from the case and banged on a cashier’s counter, demanding money.

When she called out to another member of staff, Tate warned: “I have got a bomb attached to my leg and I will detonate it.”

The cashier panicked and handed over the money in her till.

Mr Connell said Tate turned to the customer and said: “Have you come to get me?” He dropped the “weapon” and staff could see it was a music stand.

Jamaican-born Tate, whose professional name is Steve Washington, left and got into a car. He then got out and went to a nearby music shop to get a bike he had left there earlier.

He was later seen on a beach transferring the money into his pockets, leaving about £70 behind. When arrested, he claimed the cash came from a gig.

He told police he was a successful musician who found himself in the position where he could not afford to live and was desperate for money.

Mr Connell said Tate asked for four shoplifting offences to be considered. He had 14 previous convictions, mainly for dishonesty.

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The bank raid was “hamfisted” and lacking sophistication and professionalism, said Tate’s lawyer Andrew Espley.

“It was planned in such an inept way he was bound to be caught,” he said. “The fact he used his bicycle as a getaway vehicle says something about the ineptness of the robbery. It is an indication of the desperation he was in.”

Mr Espley said Tate apologised and said he wanted to eventually invite bank staff to a performance to say sorry properly.

Tate’s background, he said, made the matter “an absolute tragedy”, adding: “He is an astonishingly talented musician”.

He left school at the age of 12 to work with soul legends such as Jimmy Ruffin and toured the world with some of the most successful bands in the business.

Tate taught at Liverpool College of Performing Arts and worked at a rock school for the Prince’s Trust. He also endorsed drums for Premier Percussion.

“He was at one stage at the absolute top of the peak of his profession,” said Mr Espley. “However, things have gone badly for him since.”

He turned to drugs after the death of his parents and became homeless last year. He found accommodation but owed money to his drug dealer and to his landlord.