VOGUE ROGUE: A Burberry-clad Cornell Neilly, captured on a bank surveillance video, robbed to afford his expensive wardrobe, police said. (
)
His fashion sense is a lot better than his common sense.
A serial bank robber wore Burberry during his spree across Manhattan — and then confessed after his arrest that he needed the cash to fuel his shopping addiction, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Cornell Neilly, 21, donned the designer duds for two of 14 alleged heists during a pattern that started in April and stretched from Harlem to Battery Park, netting him more than $8,500, the sources said.
“He used the money to buy expensive clothes, $400 sneakers, a Burberry shirt,” said a source, adding that Neilly implicated himself in many of the heists.
The plaid-clad perp — collared Tuesday after allegedly taking $1,155 from a Chase branch on Park Avenue — was charged last night with 14 bank jobs, authorities said.
The sources said that in each holdup, Neilly passed a note to the teller, in most cases demanding cash in $50s and $100s.
He broke out the Burberry for a couple of jobs on May 14, pairing his $250 shirt with a black cap.
Neilly allegedly first hit a Bank of America in Midtown, but became nervous while waiting for the teller to get his money and fled.
About 45 minutes later, he allegedly held up a Chase branch near Columbia University and got away with about $500.
Neilly was dressed more casually when he kicked off the alleged crime wave on April 11. He was wearing a blue Rangers cap, a leather jacket and jeans when he slipped his demand note to a Midtown Sovereign Bank teller at about 12:30 p.m. and made off with $2,320, the sources said.
Neilly waited a month before he struck again, at an HSBC branch at 2681 Broadway on May 7, taking $724, the sources said. Six days later, he allegedly hit an Atlantic branch on Park Avenue South, swiping $400.
Then he allegedly targeted three banks over four hours on May 18. He bumbled two of the heists — one at the HSBC at 26 Broadway, the other at the Chase at 231 Grand St., cops said. He hit the jackpot at the third bank, a Chase branch on Park Avenue, making off with nearly $2,000, sources said. He allegedly struck three more times in May, pocketing more than $1,000.
Police finally nabbed him after three more holdups in Manhattan and The Bronx this month.
Prosecutors said he had been picked out of a lineup by 12 witnesses and his fingerprints were lifted from the scenes.
He was held last night in lieu of $500,000 bail at his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, where he wore jeans and a black andgray baseball shirt.
Experts said his heist outfit looks like something the British brand could have cooked up.
“It looks like a fashion story Burberry dreamed up to go viral,” said Paper Magazine’s editorial director, Mickey Boardman.
Boardman added that Neilly isn’t even in the same league as socialite bank bandit Patty Hearst.
“He’s not as chic as Patty Hearst — the chicest wanted felon in history,” he said.
“But he’s in second place.”
Neilly previously served two prison stints for selling drugs.
Additional reporting by Kirsten Fleming and