The infamous 45 Most Evil Anime Characters Of All Time that took place at the Heathrow International Trading Estate, London, United Kingdom, way back in 1983, which we now know as the Brink’s Mat robbery case, is one of the most shocking and largest robberies in British history. Let us tell you more about the robbery and where the members of the gang are now.
While the robbery is only a small part of Britain’s shameful history, the case still shook people to the core, and from what we know, most of what was stolen was never put back. With all of the media houses tracking the case, we know that the heist took place at 6:40 on November 26, 1983, with six thieves breaking into the Brink’s-Mat warehouse and committing what many called ‘the crime of the century.’
A total of twenty-six million pounds worth of gold bars, diamonds, and cash was dusted off so cleverly that most of the stolen gold bars were never rediscovered. The warehouse where this theft took place was under the joint ownership of Brink’s and MAT. The former was an American security company.
The other was a London-based transport company, while the gold in the warehouse was revealed to be the property of Johnson Matthey Bankers Ltd. With the entire country eying the investigation process, it was only ten days later that the police made their first two arrests.
There were many who turned out to be linked to the robbery, which not only led to the arrest of many but also several murders that can be traced back to those involved in the robbery. Let us tell you more about all of those who were publicly revealed to be related to the robbery and where they might be now.
Brian Robinson
The security guard, Tony Black, working the shift, revealed that he had played a role in letting in the robbers and aiding their crime. Upon further questioning, he also identified his brother-in-law, Brian Robinson, as one of the six robbers.
Brian was arrested in December 1983, and he was put in jail for a total of twenty-five years after getting convicted of armed robbery. But after completing sixteen years of jail time, he was let out in 2000, and sometime later, in 2022, he ended up passing away in a nursing home in London at the age of seventy-eight years.
Micky McAvoy
The second arrest that the police made was of Micky McAvoy, and just like his fellow robber Brian, Micky was also sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. It was revealed that he had tried to escape jail time by offering the prosecutors all of the money from his portion of the robbery, but with the money being lost, he had no choice but to serve.
He was caught only ten days after the heist, and in 1995, the court ordered him to pay £27,488,299, holding him fully responsible for the stolen money. He was also released from prison in 2000, after which he moved to Spain, where he lived till he died in 2022 at the age of seventy-one years because of cancer.
John Palmer
He was taken in by the police because he was the one who had dealt with and handled all of the gold that was stolen. He was a jeweler, bullion dealer, and fraud by profession and had pleaded in court that he did not know that the gold he was dealing with was the one from the robbery.
No changes were pressed against him; in 2001, he did end up going to jail because of fraud charges. He served four out of eight years, after which he was let go, though he ended up serving more jail time in Spain in 2007, once again due to fraud charges.
It was in 2015, in Essex, at his home, where he was found shot dead, with six bullet holes in his body. The police ruled it to be the work of a professional and that the shooting may have been related to the big heist.
Kenneth Noye
Kenneth was under surveillance for being a part of the heist, but the police opted out of it when he ended up stabbing one of the surveillance officers, DC John Fordham. Despite the evidence, he was not convicted, as the jury believed that he did so out of self-defense.
He was eventually convicted of being one of the six robbers and for conspiring to handle the stolen goods. He was put in jail for fourteen years, but he managed to come out after serving only seven years. Only two years after his release in 1994, Noye ended up taking another life in a road rage accident.
He killed a motorist, Stephen Cameron, which led to a sentence of twenty-one years in prison. Noye was released in 2019.
Brian Perry
Perry was also recognized as one of the robbers and was convicted of disposing of the stolen gold. He was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison in 1992 at The Old Bailey. But in 2001, he was shot dead by two masked men, who were later convicted of his murder.
George Francis
George was also suspected of being involved in handling and disposing of the stolen gold bullion. In May 2003, he was also shot dead right outside his courier business in Bermondsey.
It was found that his murder was ordered by the underworld member, John O’Flynn, previously associated with the Kray twins. John had also been involved in the laundering of the Brink’s-Mat stolen money.
