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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Charlotte McIntyre

British man robbed £50,000 from American banks on his lunch break to pay for IVF

A British man who decided to turn to robbing banks to pay for his wife's IVF treatment while living in America joined Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on This Morning on Monday.

Reed Domingo turned to crime after he and his wife Patrice racked up debt of more than $250,000 after nine rounds of IVF treatment, which resulted in the couple conceiving their daughter Angelique.

The convicted bank robber, who was born and raised in Abergavenny, Wales to South African parents, explained the couple opted for IVF treatment as Patrice had previously had her fallopian tubes removed.

He said: "We are both healthy individuals so it was supposed to be one time and that was it. Each round of IVF costs approximately $15,000, at least it was in 1992...and we did it nine times."

Reed Domingo was under immense financial pressure (ITV)

The couple, who met in San Diego when Reed moved to the US to work for his father's biotech firm, liquidated their assets and remortgaged their house before Reed decided to rob a bank to help pay off their debts.

He recalled: "It's absolutley crazy and I never ever thought I would find myself in that situation. This was two, three years of heavy financial pressures that I was bearing and I was working for a bank by this time, even though I wasn't customer facing I went through bank training that told me what you had to do in the even of a bank robbery.

"It was that training combined with all the pressure that made me think one day that that is the solution."

Reed explained his day job as a software programmer saw him start work in the early hours of the morning and he would take his lunch break around 10am where he would rob a bank, grab some food and return to work for the rest of his shift.

Reed told Holly and Phillip that his wife Patrice had no idea he was robbing banks (ITV)

Reed was named the 'Easy rider bandit' by the FBI and was eventually arrested for his crimes and sentenced to 46 months in prison after pleading guilt to all counts of robbery.

After being released he was extradited to the UK and was followed by his wife Patrice, who he has now separated from, and daughter who both subsequently later returned to the US.

Reed was recently denied a special waiver that would allow him to return to the US but the convicted robber is continuing his attempts to return and be reunited with his daughter.

Speaking about the moment he told his daughter, who was four years old at the time of his imprisonment, about his crimes.

"When I was told her I am so blessed as a father to have the girl I have, she sat, she listened, she was teary," he explained.

This Morning airs on ITV on weekdays at 10am.

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