Two Leeds bank security guards were playing the computer video game Virtual Woman Millennium when thieves made off with 39,000 Euro (roughly 52,000 US Dollars) right under their noses.
The robbers broke in through a side door off of an alley leading to the bank and stole the money, which, along with a number of bank cheques, was waiting to be picked up for delivery by armored truck.
The guards were so engrossed in the video game that they didn't hear the brazen heist.
The guards at first refused to admit that they had been not performing their duties.
But under questioning from detectives they said that they had become lonely working at night and had borrowed a bank teller's personal computer for entertainment, using it to talk to a user created virtual woman.
A detective on the scene said that a routine surveillance would have uncovered the crime, which looked to be the work of opportunistic amateurs.
One of the guards asked that his wife not be informed.
When a detective pointed out that it would be fairly difficult to hide the news of a robbery of this scale, he complained bitterly that he was having a terrible night.
The detective responded dryly that the bank was probably having a worse one.
The other guard felt that the blame should be laid on the boring nature of the job itself.
"It's not like I'm the only bloke who's taken a little break from my work" he said.
Detectives pointed out that a computer usage monitor set up by the bank showed that the game they had been playing had been running for over five hours.
Bank officials refused to comment on whether the guards would be sacked.
"Let's put it this way" the bank manager said, "I don't think they are getting promoted.
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