To celebrate the launch of two new Mail podcasts, ‘The Trial: The Kim Kardashian Heist’ and ‘The Hunt for Tamara Ecclestone’s Diamonds’, these are the five biggest heists in British history.
From holding up trains to cracking open bank vaults, the heists are ranked according to the approximate modern monetary value of the stolen goods.
In a new series of the Mail’s award-winning ‘The Trail’ podcast, acclaimed crime journalist Caroline Cheetham and reporter Nick Fagge, will deliver daily courtroom updates from the Paris trial of the alleged robbers of Kim Kardashian’s jewels, dubbed the ‘grandpa gang’ by French media.
Also launching is a brand-new exclusive podcast series called ‘Heists, Scams and Lies’. The first episodes follow Mail reporters George Odling and Andy Jehring’s journey across Europe to hunt for socialite Tamara Ecclestone’s £25 million in stolen diamonds.
Search for ‘The Trial’ and ‘Heists, Scams and Lies’ now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Heists, Scams and Lies: The Hunt for Tamara Ecclestone’s diamonds by clicking here
5) The Hatton Garden Heist, 2015
Stolen: £14 million (approximately £18.5 million in today’s money)
Across a four-day Easter weekend, six elderly men took advantage of the disruption caused by electrical labels catching fire and broke into a safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden, London.
The fire caused chaos in the city, with offices evacuated and noxious fumes spewing out of manhole covers.
With local businesses also closed for the holiday, the men were able to enter the bank through an underground lift shaft and make away with £14 million in jewels and cash.
The burglary was undertaken by experienced thieves, with one of the conspirators, Brain Reader, having ties to the 1983 Brink’s-Mat gold robbery.
To enter the safes inside, they drilled holes in the walls with police later releasing CCTV images of the men caught in the act.
Through a combination of the CCTV footage and tracking attempts to sell the stolen goods, the Flying Squad, a specialist branch of the Metropolitan Police, was able to find and arrest the men involved.
4) The Great Train Robbery, 1963
Stolen: £2.61 million (approximately £69 million in today’s money)
Undoubtedly the most infamous heist in British history, a gang of fifteen men meticulously planned and executed the early morning robbery of a Royal Mail train as it travelled from Glasgow to London.
An employee at the Royal Mail had shared information about the train’s movements to figures in London’s criminal underworld, leading to a daring plot that took months to plan, with multiple rival gangs working together.
By messing with the signaling system and attacking staff members, the criminals were able to stop the train and get away with £2.61 million, an eye-watering sum for sixties Britain.
To this day, much of the loot taken from the train has never been recovered. The train robbers were eventually caught when their Leatherslade Farm hideout in Buckinghamshire was raided by police.
Amusingly, a Monopoly board proved the undoing of many of the conspirators, with fingerprints on the game allowing police to link together and track the men.
A gang of fifteen men meticulously planned and executed the early morning robbery of a Royal Mail train as it travelled from Glasgow to London
The criminals were able to stop the train and get away with £2.61 million, an eye-watering sum for sixties Britain
To this day, much of the loot taken from the train has never been recovered
3) The Securitas Depot Robbery, 2006
Stolen: £53 million (approximately £92 million in today’s money)
Beginning with the abduction of a man’s family and ending with the burglary of a depot in Tonbridge Wells, the Securitas Robbery would have topped this list if thieves were able to carry more than 53 of the £154 million available to them.
The depot was a subcontracted holding facility for the Bank of England, with newly printed notes made in Epping stored there before distribution.
A mixed band of Albanian and English criminals were able to gain information about the workings of the depot by placing a man on the inside.
On 21 February 2006, the gang abducted the facility’s manager, Colin Dixon and his entire family, later forcing him at gunpoint to open the door of his place of work.
Staff were then held in cages as the thieves ransacked the location. The conspirators fled to locations in Cyprus and Morocco, hiding out while spending the ill-gotten money extravagantly.
After discovering bank notes in laundry bags, a locked-up garage, and the boots of vehicles linked to the heist, police were eventually able to track down and arrest the men.
The case is remembered as the biggest cash robbery in history and shortly after the thieves were prosecuted, the depot was shut down.
2) The Brink’s-Mat Robbery, 1983
Stolen: £26 million (approximately £102 million in today’s money)
Taking the silver medal for arguably the most famous heist in British history, the Brink’s-Mat Robbery saw £26 million in gold bullion and diamonds stolen from Heathrow airport.
Six men broke into the Brink’s-Mat warehouse on Heathrow’s International Trading Estate in London, after colluding with the location’s security guard Anthony Black.
The robbers poured patrol on staff and threatened to set them on fire if they did not comply with their demands.
Despite the planning involved, the theft was mostly a fluke. The gang responsible did not know beforehand that gold bullion was going to be stored at the warehouse.
After the robbery, a huge manhunt began with the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad again getting involved to identify the perpetrators.
By picking apart an elaborate scheme to melt the gold down and sell it to legitimate buyers, the conspirators were caught and arrested.
It took nearly six years of rigorous investigation to find everyone involved, with the last man arrested in connection with the crime being apprehended in Fuengirola, Spain in 1989.
The Brink’s-Mat Robbery saw £26 million in gold bullion and diamonds stolen from Heathrow airport
Despite the planning involved, the theft was mostly a fluke
It took nearly six years of rigorous investigation to find everyone involved
1) The Knightsbridge Deposit Robbery, 1987
Stolen: £60 million (approximately £187 million in today’s money)
Masterminded by Italian immigrant and prolific thief, Valerio Viccei, the 1987 robbery of a bank in Knightsbridge, London would have remained unsolved if not for the sale of a luxury car.
The heist saw Viccei indebt the bank’s manager by supplying him cocaine, to the extent that he willingly supplied the necessary information to complete the burglary.
Viccei and his gang held up the bank at gunpoint on 12 July 1987, hanging a closed sign outside the building to give his men time to loot safes and lock boxes.
The gang’s leader escaped to South America but later returned to London to pick up a Ferrari sportscar, where he was then arrested.
He was linked to the crime after forensic investigators discovered his bloody fingerprint at the scene.
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