'Half the Brink's-Mat 6,800 gold bars were smuggled out of country within hours'
Half of the stolen
gold was smuggled out of the country within hours of the robbery, it has been claimed.
This Sunday is the 40th anniversary of Britain’s biggest armed raid and suspicions remain some of the 6,800 bars of bullion are hidden. Ex-Det Supt Ian Brown, secretly tasked with finding the gold a year after the raid, found Kenneth Noye was helping launder the proceeds.
He met Noye last year and said: "According to him, half went to Europe immediately, but he continues to claim he had nothing to do with Brink’s so who knows what’s true."
The £26million raid was planned by 'Mad' Micky McAvoy and Brian 'The Colonel' Robinson who were later jailed and cheated out of their share. McAvoy, then 30, was the youngest of six South London robbers who robbed the Heathrow Brink’s-Mat security depot on November 26, 1983.
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Former Det Supt Ian Brown grilling Kenneth Noye last year (Daily Mirror)
Security guard Anthony Black spilled the beans on the raid after being the inside man (Daily Mirror)Speaking publicly for the first time shortly before his death aged 71 this year, McAvoy said they cut the gold into "two parcels" at a secret hideout. The next day, "one-and-a half ton went with me. A fellow I know took one-and-a-half ton. He was involved in the robbery. And that was it".
McAvoy said he was approached by detectives in jail who offered to cut his sentence from 25 to 18 years if he and Robinson returned a share of the gold. He asked his gang mates to hand it back but was told it had all gone.
The robbery took place at Heathrow Airport's International Trading Estate (PA Archive/Press Association Images)McAvoy told Neil Forsyth, writer of BBC drama The Gold for his book of the same name, he was betrayed by the others, who vowed to bust him out of jail in exchange for his share.
Treachery
He said: "You’ve been asked to hand over one-and-a half-tons for, 'We’ll get you out,' and all of a sudden Scotland Yard got involved. Treachery by your own ... worse than the grass. They knew you’d never betray ’em. They left a big knife in your back."
Kenneth Noye claimed half the gold went to Europe immediately - and that he had nothing to do with the robbery (PA Archive/Press Association Images)
This Sunday marks 40 years since the armed robbery in west London (EMPICS)McAvoy, Robinson and his brother-in-law, Anthony Black, were convicted of the raid after security guard Black spilled the beans. Tony White, of Cat-ford, South East London, was cleared of being the third man who planned it. He was later jailed for 11 years for cocaine trafficking and told to pay £26m compensation after being sued by Brink’s-Mat’s insurers.
Mr Brown’s only lead a year after the raid was a photo of the robbers. But while visiting a police station he named the suspects to a fellow officer, who said he thought Noye was involved as he was a friend of one of them, John 'Little Legs' Lloyd.
The Van believed to have been used in the Brink's-Mat Robbery (PA)Lloyd is believed to have been one of the other half of the gang, along with Brian Perry and John Fleming. When Brown caught up with Noye and his fellow launderers most of the gold had been sold, the cash offshore.
The investigation, headed by detective Tony Lundy, moved unofficially to Alicante, Spain. Bugs at Fleming’s villa revealed he was moving money through an Isle of Man firm with the help of lawyer Patrick Diamond. Brown and Lundy flew to the British Virgin Islands, where they found links to a mafia hitman and US and Colombian drug cartels.
It led to the recovery of over £100m. Fleming, from south London, was charged with handling the gold. A London magistrate threw out the case in 1987. He, Diamond and Lloyd were ordered to repay huge sums after being sued by the insurers. Noye was jailed for 14 years for handling the gold with Hatton Garden mastermind Brian Reader, who got eight. Also jailed for their part in the later operation were taxi firm boss Perry, financier Gordon Parry and solicitor Michael Relton.
John “Goldfinger” Palmer was acquitted of handling the gold. He and Perry were later shot dead. Of the suspected robbers just Lloyd, in Kent, and White, in South London, are believed to still be alive. Noye, now 76, served 19 years for murdering Stephen Cameron on an M25 slip road.
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The Mirror revealed last month his links to a £40m carbon credit scheme. Mr Brown, now 83, said this week he thinks the gold is all gone, but the raid "sent ripples around the world".
He said: "It’s the start of offshore money laundering – the banks were even making money from it."
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