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<\/p>\nTHE Brink's-Mat robbery is one of the most notorious crimes in British history.<\/p>\n
Here, we look at the people involved and where they are now.<\/p>\n
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On November 26, 1982, six armed robbers forced their way into the Brink's-Mat warehouse, the plan was to steal the \u00a33.2m in cash they were expecting to find stored there.<\/p>\n
They did not expect to find the Aladdin's cave to contain some \u00a326m in gold bullion and diamonds that they stumbled upon.<\/p>\n
Such was the size of the stash, it took the gang some two hours to load all of the gold onto their van.<\/p>\n
At 8.30am, one of the security guards alerted the police, but by this stage the gang were long gone.<\/p>\n
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The gang were now left with the headache of having to try and get rid of the gold, without causing such a ripple in the underworld that it would alert others to its whereabouts.<\/p>\n
It is thought that they melted the gold down, adding copper to it to hid the purity, enabling them to sell the gold on.<\/p>\n
Some have suggested that if you have bought any gold jewellery since 1996, the chances are, you were wearing Brink's-Mat gold.<\/p>\n
One thing the heist did reveal to police, was just how sophisticated money laundering techniques were within the criminal underworld in the UK.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n It is believed that the stolen gold was to finance many criminal empires in the years to follow, including the country's booming property market.<\/p>\n The gang comprised of six members, we look at what happened to them:<\/p>\n Thought by police to be the mastermind of the robbery, Micky McAvoy was arrested ten days after the heist.<\/p>\n He was sentenced to 25 years for part in the Brink's-Mat job in 1984.<\/p>\n McAvoy had tried to strike a deal with the prosecutors in the case when he offered to pay back his share, but by this stage, the money had disappeared.<\/p>\n In 1995, he was ordered by the court to pay back \u00a327,488,299, laying the entire stash his responsibility.<\/p>\n He was released on parole in 2000, after his release, McAvoy moved to Spain where he died in January 2023 after a long battle with cancer.<\/p>\n McAvoy was 71-years-old at the time of his death.<\/p>\n It was only in December 1983 that Brian Robinson was arrested, after he was named by the security guard Tony Black.<\/p>\n The "inside man" and security guard on the day of the robbery was none other than the brother-in-law of Robinson.<\/p>\n Brian Robinson was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison.<\/p>\n He was released in 2000, after serving 16 years of his term.<\/p>\n Robinson died in a London nursing home in 2022, following a lengthy illness, he was 78-years-old at the time of his death.<\/p>\n Jeweller and bullion dealer John Palmer, was arrested himself but he argued in court that he was unaware that the gold he was handling was linked to the Brink's-Mat robbery.<\/p>\n He was cleared of all charges against him.<\/p>\n Palmer was arrested in 2001 relating to fraud charges on a timeshare scam where it was thought he made \u00a330m at the misfortune of other.<\/p>\n Sentenced to to eight years in prison, he served half of his term.<\/p>\n In 2007 he was arrested again on fraud charges and this time spent two years in a Spanish prison as a result.<\/p>\n He was shot dead at his home in Essex in June 2015, where he had six bullet holes in him.<\/p>\n It is thought it was a professional "hit".<\/p>\n Police opted to put surveillance on Kenneth Noye for his part in the robbery, where he killed DC John Fordham, stabbing him to death.<\/p>\n Remarkably, he was found not guilty for the murder with the jury acquitting him after deciding he acted in self-defence.<\/p>\n He would later be convicted for his part in the robbery, for conspiracy to handle the stolen gold and sentenced to 14 years in prison.<\/p>\n He served seven years of the term and was released in 1994.<\/p>\n Noye would later be convicted of killing a man in a road-rage incident and was to serve 21 years for the murder.<\/p>\n He was released in 2019.<\/p>\n Perry was convicted for his part in the Brink's-Mat heist, charged with disposing of the stolen gold bullion.<\/p>\n At The Old Bailey, he was sentenced to 9 years in prison for handling stolen goods in 1992.<\/p>\n In 2001, he shot dead outside his minicab office in Bermondsey.<\/p>\n The man suspected of handling the stolen gold bullion, George Francis was shot dead outside his courier business in Bermondsey in 2003.<\/p>\n His killer was an underworld villain called John O\u2019Flynn, an ex-associate of the Kray twins, who was suspected to have been involved in the laundering of the gold from the Brink's-Mat robbery also.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/TM-compPrince-Andrew-1.jpg\")
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Where are the Brink's-Mat robbery gangsters now and what happened to them?<\/h2>\n
Micky McAvoy<\/h3>\n
Brian Robinson<\/h3>\n
John Palmer<\/h3>\n
Kenneth Noye<\/h3>\n
Brian Perry<\/h3>\n
George Francis<\/h3>\n
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