In what at the time was the world’s biggest robbery, on 26 November 1983, six armed men broke into the Brink’s-Mat warehouse, Unit 7 of Heathrow International Trading Estate, planning to steal £3 million in cash. Instead, they found gold bullion worth £26 million (equivalent to around £81 million today).
Ringleader Micky McAvoy entrusted part of his share to his partners in crime, George Francis and Brian Perry. The latter recruited Kenneth Noye to dispose of the gold, who enlisted John Palmer to melt it down, mixing in copper coins to disguise the source, and recast it for sale.
In 1996, about half the gold was thought to have found its way back into market, and it has been claimed that if you’ve bought gold jewellery in the UK since…