Here’s a crime that took place on a wing and a prayer.

Gunman Gregory Smith stormed into an Advance America bank and demanded money from the clerk, but when she started crying and preaching to him, he gave her a hug, prayed with her – and carried out the robbery anyway.

SEE THE CCTV VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THE ROBBERY BELOW

Smith spent 10 minutes on his knees praying with the shaken clerk at the Indianapolis branch after she said God could save him and that he still had a chance to do the right thing and walk away.

But the spiritual heart-to-heart failed to dissuade him from taking the clerk’s mobile phone and money from the till.

Cashier Angela Montez, 43, told police: ‘He said that he hated to have to do this, but times were hard and he had no choice.’

Smith – whose face was clearly shown on CCTV – explained to Ms Montez that he had a two-year-old child to feed and wanted to pray to ask God how he could overcome his hardships.