Spanish “Robin Hood” steals from banks, donates to anti-banking activists

Duran circulated 200,000 copies of a single-issue free newspaper called Crisis to show how he had spent the past two years fooling banks into lending him nearly half a million euros (about £395,000).

Duran: "What could be better than robbing the ones who rob us and distributing the money among the groups which are denouncing this situation and building alternatives?"

"It has been an individual disobedience action against banking that I have carried out to denounce the banking system."

He had started out by getting personal loans but eventually used a company name to avoid being placed on a list of bad debtors.

Most of the money had been donated to social activism groups or has been spent on his newspaper.

The local police said they would not start looking for Mr Duran until one of the banks made a formal request.

Jordi Mestre, director general of the Caixa Sabadell savings bank, said: "It is not permissible for someone to laugh [at the system] like this."

Other banks said they would have no trouble writing off the lost money.

"Banks need to grant loans because that is the main way for them to get profits," he said.

"It is a wheel that will not stop until the system comes to a standstill. As individuals, instead of helping the wheel to roll by asking for loans we have the opportunity and responsibility of making things difficult for this system."

The activist could face a jail sentence of up to six years if convicted but said he was prepared for the possibility.