Securitas depot robbery
Encyclopedia
The Securitas depot robbery was the largest cash robbery
in British
history, that took place on the evening of 21 February 2006 from 18:30 GMT until the early hours of 22 February. Several men abducted and threatened the family of the manager, tied up fourteen staff members and stole £
53,116,760 (about US$92.5 million at the time of the robbery) in bank notes from a Securitas Cash Management Ltd
depot in Vale Road, Tonbridge
, Kent
.
at about 18:30 on 21 February, while driving his silver Nissan Almera
. He was pulled over on the A249
just outside Stockbury, a village North East of Maidstone
, by what he thought was an unmarked police
vehicle, due to the blue lights behind the front grill. A man approached him in high-visibility clothing
and a police-style hat. The manager proceeded to get into the police impostor's car, thinking that he was a police officer, where he was then handcuffed by others in the vehicle. He was then driven west on the M20 motorway
to the West Malling
bypass
, where he was bound further, transferred into a white van
and transported to a farm in Staplehurst
, Kent.
As this was taking place, the manager's wife and eight-year-old son were being held hostage
at their home in Herne Bay, after they answered the door to men dressed in police uniforms, who falsely informed them that the manager had been involved in a road traffic accident. They were then driven to the farm at which the manager was being held, where he was told, at gunpoint, that failure to cooperate could put him and his family in danger.
The depot manager, his wife and son were taken to the Securitas depot in Tonbridge at around 01:00, travelling in a plain white van, being held at gunpoint. At the depot, 14 members of staff were bound by robbers armed with handgun
s, shotgun
s, a Skorpion and AK-47
s and wearing balaclavas.
The robbery
came to an end at approximately 02:45. The staff, along with Mr Dixon's wife and son, were left locked in cash cages. However, one member of staff had a key to unlock the cage she was locked in; she was then able to free the others. It was still another half an hour before staff members, who had been tied up, managed to raise the alarm. Police officers arriving on the scene discovered staff, the manager and his family all bound, but physically unharmed.
The Bank of England
, to which the money belonged, was reimbursed £25 million by Securitas the same day, and assured the public that Securitas will make up any additional loss.
On 23 February 2006 at around 19:00 police confirmed the arrest in Forest Hill
, South London
of a man aged 29 and a woman aged 31, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery. There were thought to be at least six armed robbers involved. On the same day, a 41-year-old woman was arrested at the Portman Building Society
branch in Bromley
in South London by the Metropolitan Police
. The woman was moved to a police station in Kent to be questioned by detective
s on suspicion of handling stolen goods. According to some news reports she was dressed as a Salvation Army
nurse and apparently tried to pay in £6,000 cash bound in tape marked "Tonbridge".
As the investigation progressed, police traced a number of the vehicles involved in the robbery including a Parcelforce
van thought to have been used in the abduction of the depot manager and his family. The van was found abandoned at the "Hook and Hatchet" pub
in the village of Hucking
, near Maidstone
. A Volvo
S60 and a red Vauxhall Vectra also thought to have been used (and made to look like unmarked police cars) in the abductions were found in the village of Leeds
, near Leeds Castle
overnight on 23 February 2006. The Volvo had apparently been set alight. On the same day Colin Dixon's Nissan Almera was also found in the car park of the "Cock Horse" pub in Detling
.
The next day, Kent Police
recovered a white Ford Transit
van from the car park of the Ashford
International Hotel. The van was found after a tip-off from a member of the public. The van and its contents were taken away from the hotel for forensic examination, and on 26 February 2006, it was announced that the van contained £1.3 million, along with gun
s, balaclavas and body armour.
Metal cages and packaging material, that may have been used to transport the money, were recovered in a field
near Detling on Friday 24 February.
On 25 February 2006, forensic teams, accompanied by armed police officers, also raided a house in Southborough
near Tunbridge Wells
on Saturday evening 25 February. On the afternoon of the day after that, Kent Police challenged two men who subsequently fled in a blue BMW 3 Series coupe
on Marine Parade in Tankerton
, near Whitstable
. Police marksmen
then appeared to shoot out at least one tyre bringing the car to a halt and subsequently arresting the driver and one other man nearby. Other reports have suggested the police may in fact have used a "stinger" device
.
On 27 February 2006, two individuals were detained by police on 27 February 2006 in the Greenwich
area of London by armed officers. The following day, the white 7.5 ton
Renault
Midlum lorry
allegedly used to transport the stolen money was eventually recovered by police at an undisclosed location. Simultaneously, Kent police raided Elderden Farm in the Staplehurst
area, apparently conducting extensive forensic searches of the surrounding land and buildings and seizing vehicles. Searches of local wells
were also undertaken by police divers
. The farm is owned by a local car dealer who could not be located at the time of the raid. A further arrest also took place of a woman who became the twelfth person detained during the investigation, most of whom have subsequently been released on bail
.
Late on 1 March 2006, Kent Police confirmed that John Fowler (a car dealer and the owner of Elderden Farm) had been charged with conspiracy to rob Securitas and three charges of kidnapping; Stuart Royle had been charged with conspiracy to rob; and Kim Shackleton had been charged with handling stolen goods. They appeared at Maidstone Magistrates' Court
on 2 March, and were remanded in custody
until 13 March, when they appeared at Maidstone Crown Court. Jetmir Bucpapa was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery the next day, and Lea John Rusha was charged with the same offence on the day after that. Both appeared in court on 3 March and were remanded in custody until a preliminary hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on the 13th. Also on March 2, during a raid on an industrial depot in Welling
, a currently unknown amount of cash was discovered, and a further arrest was made. It has been reported that the amount of money is several million pounds. A further arrest was made in the Bexley
area of London on Saturday 4 March in connection with the robbery. The man was subsequently released on bail bringing the total number of arrests at that stage to seventeen.
By 6 March police had recovered £11m as a result of various raids and forensic searches. The next day, two employees of a firm that had been contracted by Securitas were arrested. By 9 March police had recovered £19.7m as a result of various raids and searches.
On 25 June 2006, in a joint operation with Moroccan
police, four men were arrested at a shopping centre in the Souissi district of the capital Rabat
. Kent Police
said in a statement that they had been tracking Lee Murray
, a 26-year-old from Sidcup
, South London, for three months. Murray was arrested with friend Paul "The Enforcer" Allen, who police wish to interview, but on whom there is not presently sufficient evidence to charge. There is no treaty between the UK and Morroco and the process could take months. Later Moroccan police revealed that Murray had also been charged with possession of “hard drugs”. An officer said this could complicate extradition proceedings because in theory Murray would have to serve time in Morocco first for any offences committed there. Kent Police confirmed Murray's arrest the next day, and also stated that over 30 people had now been arrested in conjunction with the investigation. By year's end, the investigation costs for the Kent police had swelled to £6 million, with aid requested from the Home Office
towards their investigation cost.
In February 2007, Sean Lupton, who had been released on bail, was missing having failed to answer the conditions of his bail.
Also in February 2007 it was reported that one of the suspects, Lee Murray
, currently detained in Morocco could be returned to Britain in exchange for suspected terrorist Mohamed Karbouzi, who is wanted for questioning by the Moroccan authorities in connection with the 2003 Casablanca bombings
.
in London, presided over by Justice David Penry-Davey. The first three weeks of the trial focused on the role of the manager Colin Dixon with the defence cross-examination highlighting 'co-incidences' in his conduct which might be interpreted as suggesting he was the inside man.
On 28 January 2008, the jury returned guilty verdicts on Stuart Royle, Jetmir Bucpapa, Roger Coutts, Lea Rusha and Emir Hysenaj. John Fowler and Keith Borer were cleared of all charges. The next day Emir Hysenaj was sentenced to 20 years in prison with an order that he serve a minimum of 10 years. Stuart Royle, Lea Rusha, Jetmir Bucpapa and Roger Coutts were given life sentences with an order that they serve a minimum of 15 years.
Since the completion of both Trial I and Trial II, Kayenide 'Kane' Patterson, who the police and CPS believe to be a key player in both the robbery and kidnapping, still remains missing presumably residing in the West Indies with a large quantity of the stolen money
On 1 June 2010, Murray was jailed in Morocco
for ten years for his part in the robbery; the sentence was later increased to 25 years.
announced on 4 August 2008 that they would be making a film about Lee Murray's alleged role in the robbery, based on an article about him in Sports Illustrated
called "Breaking the Bank". In addition to the robbery, the film will also concentrate on Murray's life, including his mixed martial arts
career.
in Belfast
, Northern Ireland
, was known as the biggest cash robbery in UK history, after £26.4m was seized, a record that has been broken by the Tonbridge raid. The only larger cash robbery in history was in March 2003, when approximately US $1 billion was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq
, shortly after the United States
began bombing Baghdad
. The raid has also been compared to the Great Train Robbery
of 1963. Although the figure stolen in that robbery was only £2.6 million, this was equivalent to around £40 million now, after inflation
is taken into account, and the Graffs robbery where nearly £40 million worth of jewels was stolen by two armed men who walked into Graffs, Bond street August 2009.
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
in British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
history, that took place on the evening of 21 February 2006 from 18:30 GMT until the early hours of 22 February. Several men abducted and threatened the family of the manager, tied up fourteen staff members and stole £
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
53,116,760 (about US$92.5 million at the time of the robbery) in bank notes from a Securitas Cash Management Ltd
Securitas AB
Securitas AB is a security services , monitoring, consulting and investigation group, based in Stockholm, Sweden. The group has approximately 300,000 employees in 50 countries in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Securitas AB is listed at Nasdaq OMX Stockholm,...
depot in Vale Road, Tonbridge
Tonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
.
Robbery
The manager of the depot, Colin Dixon, was abductedKidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the taking away or transportation of a person against that person's will, usually to hold the person in false imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority...
at about 18:30 on 21 February, while driving his silver Nissan Almera
Nissan Almera
The Nissan Almera is a medium-sized family car built by Nissan from 1995 to 2006...
. He was pulled over on the A249
Great Britain road numbering scheme
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter, which represents the road's category, and a subsequent number, with a length of between 1 and 4 digits. Originally introduced to arrange...
just outside Stockbury, a village North East of Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, by what he thought was an unmarked police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
vehicle, due to the blue lights behind the front grill. A man approached him in high-visibility clothing
High-visibility clothing
High-visibility clothing, a type of personal protective equipment , is any clothing worn that has highly reflective properties or a colour that is easily discernible from any background. Yellow waistcoats worn by emergency services are a common example....
and a police-style hat. The manager proceeded to get into the police impostor's car, thinking that he was a police officer, where he was then handcuffed by others in the vehicle. He was then driven west on the M20 motorway
M20 motorway
The M20 is a motorway in Kent, England. It runs from the M25 motorway to Folkestone, providing a link to the Channel Tunnel and the ports at Dover. It is long...
to the West Malling
West Malling
West Malling is a historic market town in the Tonbridge and Malling district of Kent, England. It has a population of about 3000-5000.-Landmarks:...
bypass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....
, where he was bound further, transferred into a white van
Van
A van is a kind of vehicle used for transporting goods or groups of people.In British English usage, it can be either specially designed or based on a saloon or sedan car, the latter type often including derivatives with open backs...
and transported to a farm in Staplehurst
Staplehurst
Staplehurst can mean:* Staplehurst in England* RAF Staplehurst, a World War II airfield in England* Staplehurst railway station* Staplehurst rail crash, a railway accident in 1865* Staplehurst, Nebraska, a small village in the United States...
, Kent.
As this was taking place, the manager's wife and eight-year-old son were being held hostage
Hostage
A hostage is a person or entity which is held by a captor. The original definition meant that this was handed over by one of two belligerent parties to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement, or as a preventive measure against certain acts of war...
at their home in Herne Bay, after they answered the door to men dressed in police uniforms, who falsely informed them that the manager had been involved in a road traffic accident. They were then driven to the farm at which the manager was being held, where he was told, at gunpoint, that failure to cooperate could put him and his family in danger.
The depot manager, his wife and son were taken to the Securitas depot in Tonbridge at around 01:00, travelling in a plain white van, being held at gunpoint. At the depot, 14 members of staff were bound by robbers armed with handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
s, shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
s, a Skorpion and AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
s and wearing balaclavas.
The robbery
Robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
came to an end at approximately 02:45. The staff, along with Mr Dixon's wife and son, were left locked in cash cages. However, one member of staff had a key to unlock the cage she was locked in; she was then able to free the others. It was still another half an hour before staff members, who had been tied up, managed to raise the alarm. Police officers arriving on the scene discovered staff, the manager and his family all bound, but physically unharmed.
The Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
, to which the money belonged, was reimbursed £25 million by Securitas the same day, and assured the public that Securitas will make up any additional loss.
Investigation and arrests
Securitas and their insurers offered a reward of £2 million for information leading to the thieves' capture.On 23 February 2006 at around 19:00 police confirmed the arrest in Forest Hill
Forest Hill, London
Forest Hill is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It situated between Dulwich and Sydenham. The area has enjoyed extensive investment since plans to extend the East London Line to Forest Hill were unveiled in 2004....
, South London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
of a man aged 29 and a woman aged 31, on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery. There were thought to be at least six armed robbers involved. On the same day, a 41-year-old woman was arrested at the Portman Building Society
Portman Building Society
The Portman Building Society was a UK mutual building society, providing mortgages and savings accounts to UK consumers and offering loans to commercial enterprises. Its head office was located in Bournemouth and its administration centre in Wolverhampton...
branch in Bromley
Bromley
Bromley is a large suburban town in south east London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Bromley. It was historically a market town, and prior to 1963 was in the county of Kent and formed the administrative centre of the Municipal Borough of Bromley...
in South London by the Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
. The woman was moved to a police station in Kent to be questioned by detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
s on suspicion of handling stolen goods. According to some news reports she was dressed as a Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
nurse and apparently tried to pay in £6,000 cash bound in tape marked "Tonbridge".
As the investigation progressed, police traced a number of the vehicles involved in the robbery including a Parcelforce
Parcelforce
Parcelforce Worldwide is a courier and logistics service in the United Kingdom. Parcelforce Worldwide is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd.Its international partner network allows it to extend its delivery reach worldwide...
van thought to have been used in the abduction of the depot manager and his family. The van was found abandoned at the "Hook and Hatchet" pub
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
in the village of Hucking
Hucking
Hucking is a small hamlet and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is governed by a parish meeting.The settlement sits atop the North Downs in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty near the villages of Hollingbourne, Detling, Bicknor and Wormshill and...
, near Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
. A Volvo
Volvo
AB Volvo is a Swedish builder of commercial vehicles, including trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo also supplies marine and industrial drive systems, aerospace components and financial services...
S60 and a red Vauxhall Vectra also thought to have been used (and made to look like unmarked police cars) in the abductions were found in the village of Leeds
Leeds, Kent
Leeds is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone District of Kent, England. The parish is located to the east of Maidstone.The village of Leeds is five miles from the county town. It appeared in the Domesday Book of 1086 called Esledes - an old English word meaning slope or hillside...
, near Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle
Leeds Castle, southeast of Maidstone, Kent, England, dates back to 1119, though a Saxon fort stood on the same site from the 9th century. The castle is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds....
overnight on 23 February 2006. The Volvo had apparently been set alight. On the same day Colin Dixon's Nissan Almera was also found in the car park of the "Cock Horse" pub in Detling
Detling
Detling is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The parish is located on the slope of the North Downs, north east of Maidstone, and on the Pilgrims' Way....
.
The next day, Kent Police
Kent Police
Kent Police is the territorial police force for Kent in England, including the unitary authority of Medway.-Area and organisation:The force covers an area of with an approximate population of 1,660,588 . The Chief Constable is currently Ian Learmonth, who was appointed in 2010 and is the former...
recovered a white Ford Transit
Ford Transit
The Ford Transit is a range of panel vans, minibuses, and pickup trucks, produced by the Ford Motor Company in Europe.The Transit has been the best-selling light commercial vehicle in Europe for 40 years, and in some countries the term "Transit" has passed into common usage as a generic term...
van from the car park of the Ashford
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
International Hotel. The van was found after a tip-off from a member of the public. The van and its contents were taken away from the hotel for forensic examination, and on 26 February 2006, it was announced that the van contained £1.3 million, along with gun
Gun
A gun is a muzzle or breech-loaded projectile-firing weapon. There are various definitions depending on the nation and branch of service. A "gun" may be distinguished from other firearms in being a crew-served weapon such as a howitzer or mortar, as opposed to a small arm like a rifle or pistol,...
s, balaclavas and body armour.
Metal cages and packaging material, that may have been used to transport the money, were recovered in a field
Field (agriculture)
In agriculture, the word field refers generally to an area of land enclosed or otherwise and used for agricultural purposes such as:* Cultivating crops* Usage as a paddock or, generally, an enclosure of livestock...
near Detling on Friday 24 February.
On 25 February 2006, forensic teams, accompanied by armed police officers, also raided a house in Southborough
Southborough, Kent
Southborough civil parish, with the title of town in the District of Tunbridge Wells, in Kent, England. It lies immediately to the north of Tunbridge Wells itself, with the A26 London road passing through it. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 11,124...
near Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...
on Saturday evening 25 February. On the afternoon of the day after that, Kent Police challenged two men who subsequently fled in a blue BMW 3 Series coupe
BMW 3 Series
The BMW 3 Series is a compact executive car manufactured by the German automaker BMW since May 1975. Successor to the BMW New Class, it has been produced in five different generations and in no less than five different body styles. It is BMW's best-selling model, accounting for around 30% of the...
on Marine Parade in Tankerton
Tankerton
A suburb of Whitstable in south-east England, Tankerton was a commercial development by the Tankerton Estate Company in the late 19th century, and was designed with a grid of streets leading from the shoreline...
, near Whitstable
Whitstable
Whitstable is a seaside town in Northeast Kent, Southeast England. It is approximately north of the city of Canterbury and approximately west of the seaside town of Herne Bay. It is part of the City of Canterbury district and has a population of about 30,000.Whitstable is famous for its oysters,...
. Police marksmen
Marksmen
The Foggy River Boys was the name of two related American male singing quartets from southern Missouri specializing in spiritual and country music in the 1940s and 50s.-1940s group:...
then appeared to shoot out at least one tyre bringing the car to a halt and subsequently arresting the driver and one other man nearby. Other reports have suggested the police may in fact have used a "stinger" device
Spike strip
A spike strip is a device used to impede or stop the movement of wheeled vehicles by puncturing their tires...
.
On 27 February 2006, two individuals were detained by police on 27 February 2006 in the Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
area of London by armed officers. The following day, the white 7.5 ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
Renault
Renault
Renault S.A. is a French automaker producing cars, vans, and in the past, autorail vehicles, trucks, tractors, vans and also buses/coaches. Its alliance with Nissan makes it the world's third largest automaker...
Midlum lorry
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...
allegedly used to transport the stolen money was eventually recovered by police at an undisclosed location. Simultaneously, Kent police raided Elderden Farm in the Staplehurst
Staplehurst
Staplehurst can mean:* Staplehurst in England* RAF Staplehurst, a World War II airfield in England* Staplehurst railway station* Staplehurst rail crash, a railway accident in 1865* Staplehurst, Nebraska, a small village in the United States...
area, apparently conducting extensive forensic searches of the surrounding land and buildings and seizing vehicles. Searches of local wells
Water well
A water well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, boring or drilling to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The well water is drawn by an electric submersible pump, a trash pump, a vertical turbine pump, a handpump or a mechanical pump...
were also undertaken by police divers
Police diving
Police diving is a branch of professional diving carried out by police services. Police divers are usually sworn police officers, and may either be employed full-time as divers or as general water police officers, or be volunteers who usually serve in other units but are called in if their diving...
. The farm is owned by a local car dealer who could not be located at the time of the raid. A further arrest also took place of a woman who became the twelfth person detained during the investigation, most of whom have subsequently been released on bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
.
Late on 1 March 2006, Kent Police confirmed that John Fowler (a car dealer and the owner of Elderden Farm) had been charged with conspiracy to rob Securitas and three charges of kidnapping; Stuart Royle had been charged with conspiracy to rob; and Kim Shackleton had been charged with handling stolen goods. They appeared at Maidstone Magistrates' Court
Magistrates' Court
A magistrates' court or court of petty sessions, formerly known as a police court, is the lowest level of court in England and Wales and many other common law jurisdictions...
on 2 March, and were remanded in custody
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
until 13 March, when they appeared at Maidstone Crown Court. Jetmir Bucpapa was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery the next day, and Lea John Rusha was charged with the same offence on the day after that. Both appeared in court on 3 March and were remanded in custody until a preliminary hearing at Maidstone Crown Court on the 13th. Also on March 2, during a raid on an industrial depot in Welling
Welling
Welling is a district in the London Borough of Bexley, South East London. It is a suburban development situated between Shooter's Hill and Bexleyheath north of the A2 road and 10.5 miles east south-east of Charing Cross.-History:...
, a currently unknown amount of cash was discovered, and a further arrest was made. It has been reported that the amount of money is several million pounds. A further arrest was made in the Bexley
Bexley
Bexley is an South East London]] in the London Borough of Bexley, London, England. It is located on the banks of the River Cray south of the Roman Road, Watling Street...
area of London on Saturday 4 March in connection with the robbery. The man was subsequently released on bail bringing the total number of arrests at that stage to seventeen.
By 6 March police had recovered £11m as a result of various raids and forensic searches. The next day, two employees of a firm that had been contracted by Securitas were arrested. By 9 March police had recovered £19.7m as a result of various raids and searches.
On 25 June 2006, in a joint operation with Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
police, four men were arrested at a shopping centre in the Souissi district of the capital Rabat
Rabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
. Kent Police
Kent Police
Kent Police is the territorial police force for Kent in England, including the unitary authority of Medway.-Area and organisation:The force covers an area of with an approximate population of 1,660,588 . The Chief Constable is currently Ian Learmonth, who was appointed in 2010 and is the former...
said in a statement that they had been tracking Lee Murray
Lee Murray
Lee Lamrani Ibrahim "Lightning" Murray is an English-Moroccan mixed martial artist and convicted bank robber. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail in June 2010 for masterminding a 2006 £53 million armed raid in Kent, UK...
, a 26-year-old from Sidcup
Sidcup
Sidcup is a district in South East London in the London Borough of Bexley and small parts of the district in the London Borough of Greenwich.Located south east of Charing Cross, Sidcup is bordered by the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Bromley and Kent County Council, and whilst now part of...
, South London, for three months. Murray was arrested with friend Paul "The Enforcer" Allen, who police wish to interview, but on whom there is not presently sufficient evidence to charge. There is no treaty between the UK and Morroco and the process could take months. Later Moroccan police revealed that Murray had also been charged with possession of “hard drugs”. An officer said this could complicate extradition proceedings because in theory Murray would have to serve time in Morocco first for any offences committed there. Kent Police confirmed Murray's arrest the next day, and also stated that over 30 people had now been arrested in conjunction with the investigation. By year's end, the investigation costs for the Kent police had swelled to £6 million, with aid requested from the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
towards their investigation cost.
In February 2007, Sean Lupton, who had been released on bail, was missing having failed to answer the conditions of his bail.
Also in February 2007 it was reported that one of the suspects, Lee Murray
Lee Murray
Lee Lamrani Ibrahim "Lightning" Murray is an English-Moroccan mixed martial artist and convicted bank robber. He was sentenced to 10 years in jail in June 2010 for masterminding a 2006 £53 million armed raid in Kent, UK...
, currently detained in Morocco could be returned to Britain in exchange for suspected terrorist Mohamed Karbouzi, who is wanted for questioning by the Moroccan authorities in connection with the 2003 Casablanca bombings
2003 Casablanca bombings
The 2003 Casablanca bombings were a series of suicide bombings on May 16, 2003, in Casablanca, Morocco. The attacks were the deadliest terrorist attacks in the country's history. 45 people were killed as a result of these attacks...
.
Trial
The trial began on 26 June 2007 at the Old BaileyOld Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
in London, presided over by Justice David Penry-Davey. The first three weeks of the trial focused on the role of the manager Colin Dixon with the defence cross-examination highlighting 'co-incidences' in his conduct which might be interpreted as suggesting he was the inside man.
On 28 January 2008, the jury returned guilty verdicts on Stuart Royle, Jetmir Bucpapa, Roger Coutts, Lea Rusha and Emir Hysenaj. John Fowler and Keith Borer were cleared of all charges. The next day Emir Hysenaj was sentenced to 20 years in prison with an order that he serve a minimum of 10 years. Stuart Royle, Lea Rusha, Jetmir Bucpapa and Roger Coutts were given life sentences with an order that they serve a minimum of 15 years.
Since the completion of both Trial I and Trial II, Kayenide 'Kane' Patterson, who the police and CPS believe to be a key player in both the robbery and kidnapping, still remains missing presumably residing in the West Indies with a large quantity of the stolen money
On 1 June 2010, Murray was jailed in Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
for ten years for his part in the robbery; the sentence was later increased to 25 years.
Film
Time Inc.Time Inc.
Time Inc. is a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, the company formed by the 1990 merger of the original Time Inc. and Warner Communications. It publishes 130 magazines, most notably its namesake, Time...
announced on 4 August 2008 that they would be making a film about Lee Murray's alleged role in the robbery, based on an article about him in Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...
called "Breaking the Bank". In addition to the robbery, the film will also concentrate on Murray's life, including his mixed martial arts
Mixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
career.
Similar incidents
The 2004 Northern Bank robberyNorthern Bank robbery
The Northern Bank robbery was a large robbery of cash from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Carried out by a large, proficient group on 20 December 2004, the gang seized the equivalent of £26.5 million in pounds sterling and small amounts of...
in Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, was known as the biggest cash robbery in UK history, after £26.4m was seized, a record that has been broken by the Tonbridge raid. The only larger cash robbery in history was in March 2003, when approximately US $1 billion was stolen from the Central Bank of Iraq
Central Bank of Iraq
-History:The Central Bank of Iraq was established as Iraq's central bank by Central Bank of Iraq Law 2004 with authorised capital of 100 billion dinars. The current Governor of the Central Bank of Iraq is Sinan Al Shabibi.-Architecture:...
, shortly after the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
began bombing Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. The raid has also been compared to the Great Train Robbery
Great Train Robbery (1963)
The Great Train Robbery is the name given to a £2.6 million train robbery committed on 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England. The bulk of the stolen money was not recovered...
of 1963. Although the figure stolen in that robbery was only £2.6 million, this was equivalent to around £40 million now, after inflation
Inflation
In economics, inflation is a rise in the general level of prices of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation also reflects an erosion in the purchasing power of money – a...
is taken into account, and the Graffs robbery where nearly £40 million worth of jewels was stolen by two armed men who walked into Graffs, Bond street August 2009.
See also
- List of famous bank robbers and robberies
- Northern Bank RobberyNorthern Bank robberyThe Northern Bank robbery was a large robbery of cash from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Carried out by a large, proficient group on 20 December 2004, the gang seized the equivalent of £26.5 million in pounds sterling and small amounts of...
- A similar robbery from 2004 that occurred in Northern Ireland.