Last month Nathan Ritchie pled guilty to entering the William Hill branch in Broughty Ferry and pulling a knife on a worker last July.

Mr Ritchie had been working for a practice in Dundee – but was made redundant without a severance package six weeks before the incident.

Dundee Sheriff Court had heard that Mr Ritchie changed into a full black outfit in an alleyway before he entered the bookmakers, jumped over the counter and demanded the worker empty the safe.

Mr Ritchie, who stole £716 in the process, handed himself in to police later that day.

Sheriff Tom Hughes today jailed the 38-year-old for 32 months.

Defence solicitor Anika Jethwa said Ritchie suffered a breakdown and spent a period in the Carseview Centre following his court appearance.

She said Ritchie is currently working to resolve outstanding debts and was assessed as being at a “low risk” of reoffending.

Ms Jethwa told the court: “He is not trying to hide or shirk from what he did.

“He has clearly shown remorse, he is genuinely sorry. He is deeply ashamed and embarrassed by his conduct.”

When passing sentence, Sheriff Hughes said: “You pled guilty to a very serious matter and this caused considerable distress to the person referred to in the charge and basically you placed her in a very, very difficult situation.

“Since then I have had the opportunity of reading a victim impact statement which sets out what would be very understandable reasons as to why she was deeply distressed by what happened.

“It is quite clear in this case you have shown remorse in your involvement in this matter and the report sets out the thinking you had and deeply regret what you did on the day in question.”

Ritchie’s sentence was backdated to February 5 when he was first remanded in custody.

A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to Nathan Ritchie as an architect. It has since been brought to our attention that Mr Ritchie is not registered with the Architects Registration Board.