A robber who splattered dye all over his flat when trying to open a stolen cash box has been jailed for two years.

Charleston Scott, 50, of Francis Street, Stratford, snatched a case containing �25,000 from a G4S security guard during a visit to Tesco in Leytonstone Road.

The habitual shoplifter ran home and prised open the box – only to be covered in security ink.

After his arrest, police found a large purple stain on the living room carpet, purple footprints all over the floor and purple fingerprints on the fridge.

Scott had spent the three weeks after the theft trying to launder the stained cash by paying for cheap rail tickets and keeping the change.

Staff at stations throughout east London and Essex reported finding dye-stained �20 notes in ticket machines.

Together with Geraldine Lewis, 23, also of Francis Street, Stratford, and Robert Dalby, 32, he managed to convert �1,103 before the plot was uncovered when Lewis was arrested at Laindon Station.

Dalby was arrested 40 minutes later at the same station and Scott was discovered hiding at Dalby’s home.

Dalby, of Laindon, Essex, a drug addict with 123 previous convictions, was jailed for eight months while Lewis was jailed for six weeks.

More than �22,000 of the loot has never been traced.

The Old Bailey heard the robbery took place on January 4 this year.

Judge Richard Marks sentenced Scott to two years’ imprisonment for robbery and one month concurrent for conspiracy to convert criminal property.