THREE killers who shot dead a brave grandfather, Mr David Dunn, in

their panic-stricken flight from a #185,000 bank robbery were jailed for

life yesterday.

Lord Osborne told Robert Smith, Gerald McQuade, and Paul Bootland:

''Tragically, David Dunn has paid with his life the price of assisting

in bringing you to justice.'' The judge also praised members of the

public whose courage foiled the escape.

Mr Dunn was shot in the chest by Smith at a range of no more than a

foot as he leaned into the robbers' getaway car and lashed out with a

bag of shopping.

After a 17-day trial at the High Court in Edinburgh the jury took more

than six hours, and an overnight hotel stay, to return guilty verdicts

against all three accused on charges of murder, attempted murder, and

bank robbery.

By majority verdicts they convicted Smith, 33; McQuade, 40; and

Bootland, 25, of murdering Mr Dunn, a 63-year-old retired mining

engineer in a car park at Bonnyrigg, Midlothian on October 19 last year.

The most difficult task for the jury was to decide whether all three

accused, including getaway driver Bootland, who never fired a shot, were

responsible for everything that happened. They decided that because all

three had gone on a bank raid armed with loaded weapons, each was

responsible for the other's actions.

All three were also convicted of attempting to murder off-duty

policeman John Duffy, along with Mr John Girdler and Mr Duncan Milliken,

two members of the public who risked their lives to help Detective

Constable Duffy thwart the escape.

They tried to shoot their way out of the car park near the Bank of

Scotland in High Street, Bonnyrigg, which Smith, a Life Guards

lance-corporal on the run, and McQuade had robbed of #185,000 moments

earlier.

If Bootland had not stalled the car, the gang might have escaped,

sparing Mr Dunn's life.

The judge saw grounds for distinguishing between them, given that

McQuade, of Prospecthill Road, Toryglen, Glasgow, had a criminal record;

Bootland, of Greenend Grove, Edinburgh, had played a comparatively small

part in the robbery; and Smith, on the run from the Army, was a first

offender with an exemplary Army record.

For the robbery charge he jailed McQuade for 20 years, Smith for 15

and Bootland for 10.

The judge went on: ''The sequel to the robbery was of course the

appalling series of events in the nearby car park. Through the

courageous and commendable intervention of members of the public your

escape was fortunately foiled.

''In this connection I should like to recognise publicly the bravery

of the late David Dunn, of John Duffy, John Girdler and Duncan Milliken.

Also, of course, I recognise the valiant efforts of the two security

staff, Robert Bourhill and Ronald Allan.''

Mr Bourhill and Mr Allan were the Securicor men robbed at gunpoint in

the bank on October 19. They chased Smith and McQuade as they made their

escape. Lord Osborne added: ''You, Smith and McQuade, were prepared

callously to make use of the loaded firearms in your possession in order

to make good your escape, an action which I can only describe as

contemptible.''

For murdering Mr Dunn, he jailed all three for life, the only sentence

open to him.

For the attempted murder of Mr Duffy, McQuade, who actually fired the

shots, was jailed for 12 years; Smith for eight; and Bootland for six.

For the attempted murders of Mr Duffy, Mr Milliken, and Mr Girdler,

who were fired at by Smith, Smith got 12 years; McQuade eight; and

Bootland six.

The judge gave all three five years each for firearms offences and

ordered all the sentences to run concurrently. He chose not to recommend

a minimum sentence to be served on the murder charge.

During the trial, the jury heard how the bank raid itself had gone

like clockwork. Smith, a Gulf war tank commander, and McQuade had

calculated that it would take them no more than a minute. In the event,

they were in and out of the bank in 55 seconds.

From then on things went badly and, for Mr Dunn, tragically wrong.

The raiders could never have dreamed that so many ordinary citizens of

Bonnyrigg would be prepared to ''have a go'' and turn their flight into

a fiasco.

The shoot-out in the car park could easily have claimed several more

lives. McQuade fired his Webley revolver twice at DC Duffy at point

blank range as the off-duty policeman grappled with him: amazingly, the

only physical injury was a powder burn to the policeman's hand.

When the revolver was exmamined later two bullets were lodged in the

barrel.

Then, after Duffy, Girdler and Milliken, had pinned the struggling

McQuade to the ground, Smith shot at them three times from the getaway

car with a pistol he had smuggled back from the Gulf.

Again, the gun failed to work properly. Tests later revealed it also

had a fault.

Ironically, Bootland's Browning semi-automatic pistol appeared to be

the only gun working properly, and it was never fired.

After the verdict, Lord Osborne told the three men: ''You have been

convicted of an armed robbery of serious character which was plainly

executed after careful planning some time in advance.

''A considerable number of security staff, bank employees and members

of the public were assaulted and no doubt terrified by their having

presented at them firearms. The result was the abstraction from the bank

of a very substantial sum of money which happily has been recovered.

''Your crime as regards the robbery can only be seen as one of the

most grave of its kind involving an outright defiance of the criminal

law and of all decent standards of conduct, carried out in furtherance

of your own greed.

''For that, in my opinion, you must be severely punished.''