MANDEL: This judge has had enough of serial bank robber

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This is a career criminal who just wouldn’t learn his lesson.

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In May 2022, serial Toronto bank robber Andrew Burke had just been released on bail to await trial on a new robbery charge after yet another benevolent court decided to give him a chance.

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Just two weeks later, with a GPS tracker on him no less, the audacious 58-year-old Burke was back at it – dressed in disguise and passing a note threatening that he had a gun he would use if the terrified bank teller didn’t hand over the cash he was demanding.

Last fall, Burke pleaded guilty to that robbery and three others that occurred over one month in the spring of 2022.

“There can be no doubt as to the psychological harm visited upon the victims of Mr. Burke’s robberies given the threat of gun-related violence,” noted Justice Derek Ishak.

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But what to do with the incorrigible repeat offender?

Now 60, Burke blames his life of crime on his drug addictions.

His shocking record spans over 40 years and includes 58 convictions, with 17 for robberies, three for using an imitation firearm and two for being disguised with intent. He’s been sent to the penitentiary eight times and had his statutory release revoked after he committed another robbery in 2010.

Back in 2008, Burke successfully fought the Crown’s long-term offender designation.

After his psychiatric assessment, Dr. Scott Woodside warned that without extensive treatment and extremely tight supervision, he was almost certain Burke would commit further robberies within the next ten years.

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“History has proven Dr. Woodside right,” Ishak noted in his ruling last week. “Since 2008, Mr. Burke has been convicted of a further nine robberies, inclusive of the four robberies before me, as well as for the use of an imitation firearm.”

In 2017, Burke made headlines after his arrest for a string of eight bank robberies in a one-week spree that began with a July 21 holdup at Weston and Roger Rds. In the midst of a crack cocaine binge, he obtained $1,000 by passing a note to a shocked BMO bank teller saying, “This is a robbery I have a gun give me 20s 50s 100s.”

Three days later, he walked away with $4,000 after giving another BMO teller a note that warned, “This is a robbery don’t panic I have a gun I’m not afraid to use it.” And on and on.

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These weren’t victimless crimes. His third heist involved a pregnant teller who had to be seen by paramedics after the robbery. One teller left the banking field; another was so shaken he increased his life insurance. 

In 2018, Burke pleaded guilty to four of the eight robberies, expressed remorse and vowed to get his addictions in check through counselling.

Justice Heather Pringle believed he deserved another chance and sentenced him to five years, less 17 months of pre-sentence credit. But just 60 days after Burke’s release from prison, he was back to his life of crime.

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