The bank manager, his lover and the botched robbery

Mark Andrew Scott

It was a plan supposedly hatched over a pool table in a dark corner of the Wellsford Inn.

Two months ago, 39-year-old Wellsford BNZ manager Mark Andrew Scott - a former marine who served in the Gulf War, and his 27-year-old partner, Vanessa Scott - allegedly devised the ultimate inside job: to rob his bank of up to $130,000, said police.

However, while the plot appeared to be Bonnie and Clyde, police say it was more Dumb and Dumber.

"It would make a great movie - but it couldn't have serious actors. They would need Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler," said Acting Detective Sergeant Kevin Burke.

Mark Scott now faces a charge of aggravated robbery and two charges of being a party to kidnap. Vanessa Scott is accused with Richard Murray Cowell, 26, and Lewis Blackwood- Manukau, 19, of kidnapping and aggravated robbery.

Vanessa Scott, Cowell and Blackwood-Manukau are alleged to have entered the bank last Tuesday wearing overalls and balaclavas and brandishing knives while Mark Scott and two other staff members were in a meeting, shortly before opening.

It is not clear how the robbers got into the bank but police say Mr Scott may have let them in.

Armed officers arrested one of the men as he fled out the back door of the bank, his pockets stuffed full of cash. A second man was caught trying to escape with bundles of cash hidden in a jersey. Two knives and a bag of cash were found near the back door.

Vanessa Scott is alleged to have escaped the scene.

Police said statements taken from Cowell and Blackwood-Manukau did not add up - and it soon became apparent "there was obviously some assistance, or an additional party, involved".

Mark and Vanessa Scott were arrested at their Wellsford home, where more cash is also alleged to have been found.

The pair had earlier been shopping in Orewa while police were interviewing two men captured at the scene.

None of the four entered a plea when they appeared at North Shore District Court on Wednesday. They were remanded in custody.

Mark Scott, a former finance manager, was said by former friends to be "in debt".

And the father of Mr Scott's partner Vanessa said: "He's supposed to be a bank manager - but he couldn't even manage his own finances.

"He's the last of the big spenders. He lives well beyond his means."

Mr Scott had run the Wellsford BNZ for 12 months. Ms Scott's lawyer Geoffrey Anderson would not make any comment but David Reece, Mr Scott's lawyer, said his client was still to make a decision on his plea.

While Ms Scott has fully co-operated with police, he has continued to deny the allegations.

Ms Scott's father told the Herald on Sunday his daughter was easily led: "One word sums her up - she's colourful. She accepts everybody at face value. She's too frigging trusting."

He described the former US naval marine reservist, who served in the 1991 Gulf War, as a "control freak" who dominated his daughter.

"The way he talked to her and treated her - to him she was just a chattel.

"He's very vain. He makes out he's a tough guy but he's yet to prove it.

"He talks the talk but he doesn't have the walk. When is he going to stand up and be a man - I just wish he would disappear."

The Scotts met in Australia a decade ago but they were never married. Sick of waiting for him to propose, she changed her name to Scott by deed poll.

When they met, Mr Scott was a financial adviser and Ms Scott a bar manager.

Their relationship was volatile. Ms Scott's father says when his daughter became pregnant, Mr Scott threw her out and refused to acknowledge the child was his.

After her father intervened, Mr Scott recognised his child and, after a series of break-ups, the couple settled down. After a brief spell in the United States, where Ms Scott's father says they were thrown out of Mr Scott's home and forced to live in a shelter, Vanessa's parents flew them back to Wellsford.

They arrived in July last year and Ms Scott's father got Mr Scott a job at Specific Security Services. He soon moved to his job at BNZ.

Bank spokeswoman Brenda Newth told the Herald on Sunday that thorough credit and criminal record checks had been carried out on Mr Scott before he was employed.

Ms Scott's father has been trying to sort out the couple's finances and said Mr Scott owed money to many - he was at least $15,000 in debt.

Mr Scott's lawyer, Mr Reece, told the Herald on Sunday he had not spoken with his client about his finances and could not confirm claims of mounting debts.

Ms Scott's father knew nothing of the alleged robbery plan until he spoke with his daughter in prison. He said she told him about a bungled raid, less than two months in the planning, that began around a pool table at the Wellsford Inn.

Ms Scott worked part-time at the Inn for about three months, while doing an acting course. Blackwood-Manukau and Cowell were regulars at the pub, where Cowell was a frequent winner at pool competitions. Mr Burke said police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the Wellsford robbery.

The bungled raid has left Ms Scott's parents looking after their granddaughter, who they say idolises her father.

Ms Scott's father has spent the week sifting through the couple's finances, moving their furniture out of their rented home and dealing with the gossip in a small country town.

He said he was just trying to pick up the pieces - it reminds him of another daughter, who died years ago. "I've already lost one daughter and now it looks like I've lost this one, too."

One of Mr Scott's former employers, Warren Hedley, of Specific Securities, said with his marine training Mr Scott was the perfect security guard. "He always wanted action.

"He could take out four or five guys by himself, no problem," Mr Hedley said.

"I tried to do the right thing by him, to give him a job and a cheap house. Mark by himself was nice. His wife was the problem."

He described Ms Scott as "snobby and self-centred", and that her dreams of stardom in Hollywood had faded - but her ego had not.

After falling out with Mr Hedley about three months ago, the Scotts moved into a red-brick home in the main street in Wellsford. Neighbours said the couple kept to themselves and that they rarely went out, although Mark Scott could sometimes be seen smoking outside the house.