Meet the world's stupidest bank robber. His weapon? A toy gun. His target? A physiotherapy practice that was a bank 17 years ago. His biggest mistake? Being a complete and utter idiot.

Known only as "Siegfried K" for legal reasons, the man dubbed the "world's stupidest bank robber" by German tabloid Bild is truly one of the most inept criminals ever to hit the headlines.

The 57-year-old criminal decided to forgo doing any research on his mark in Osnabrück, Germany, deciding instead to wing it and wander in swinging a toy gun around.

Holding a member of the practice's staff hostage for €10,000 (£8,595) - still believing it was a bank - he quickly realised his mistake and changed tack: out with the ransom, in with demanding a passer-by to give him €400 (£342) from a nearby cash machine.

Dashing off in his getaway car - he prepared that, at least - he dumped it on the side of the road, leaving his "weapon" inside.

The trouble with that decision? His fingerprints were all over the toy gun, and so Siegfried was picked up by police pretty pronto.

He will now serve seven years in jail for his cack-handed crimes, joining the likes of the guy who was caught trapped inside an ATM after trying to steal from it and the robber who took his mask off in front of a CCTV camera. They'd make one hell of a gang, this lot.