The Unusual Suspect: Tale of a latter-day Robin Hood’s doomed crime caper

Stephen Jackley’s efforts to steal from the rich and give to the poor saw him come a cropper before long, as retold in this entertaining account of his life of crime

Stephen Jackley pulled off a string of bank robberies before being caught. Picture: Tom Jackson/The Times

BIOGRAPHY

The Unusual Suspect: The Remarkable True Story of a Modern-Day Robin Hood

By Ben Machell

Canongate Books, €20.25

In September 2007, Stephen Jackley embarked on what he considered his “duty”. A shy, socially awkward geography student with a mild form of autism, the 20-year-old from rural Devon liked hillwalking, astronomy and Star Trek. He was also obsessed with the legend of Robin Hood.

Appalled by how the emerging global financial crisis was aggravating income ...