Brink's-Mat robbery

The Gold. Alongside Palmer, Kenneth Noyce (Jack Lowden) helped melt down the bullions (Picture: BBC/ Tannadice Pictures/ Sally Mais). Two years after the ...

His true cause of death was only revealed in a post-mortem after the gunshot wounds to his chest were mistaken for wounds following his open heart surgery operation. But in June 2015, aged 64, Palmer was murdered in his home in Essex after being shot in the chest. While he served just over half his term, by the time he got out his once £300million fortune had been decimated, and he was declared bankrupt in 2005. Eventually deported back home, he faced trial, and although he admitted to melting down gold bars from the robbery in his backyard, he successful argued he wasn’t aware they were stolen and managed to avoid a sentence. Police had been investigating the company’s records, which had been falsified, but before Palmer could also be arrested, he fled to Tenerife with his family days before the company was raided. Two years after the robbery, Palmer’s two partners were arrested for helping to melt down the gold from the robbery and try to pass it off as legitimate. A few years before the Brink’s-Mat robbery, Palmer and Chappell had found themselves in trouble and were arrested and charged after obtaining credit on furniture by providing false references, How was he involved in the Brink’s-Mat robbery? But decades after the robbery, in 2015, Palmer was [infamous Brink’s-Mat robbery ](https://metro.co.uk/2013/11/22/brinks-mat-30-years-on-from-britains-most-notorious-gold-robbery-4196170/)in 1983, they ended up involving countless others in their lucrative heist, a [web of people](https://metro.co.uk/2023/01/04/best-new-2023-true-crimes-series-including-on-rolf-harris-18039884/) that are explored in the new BBC series The Gold. One of seven children born in Solihull, Warwickshire, Palmer left school when he was 15 to become a roof tiler, and also sold paraffin from ‘the back of a lorry’. One of the people whose help they enlisted was John Palmer, a career criminal who eventually amassed a jaw-dropping £300million fortune, some of which came from his assistance in melting down the bullions.

Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Spencer, Jack Lowden and more star in BBC One's new true crime drama.

[Soutchcliffe](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/sean-durkin-on-directing-southcliffe-martha-marcy-may-marlene-mad-men-more/)) with a long list of film and TV credits. [I Hate Suzie](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/i-hate-suzie-review-spoiler-free-electrifying-billie-piper-comedy-drama/), Lovesick and The Crown‘s Daniel Ings as Archie Osborne. [The Entire History of You](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/black-mirror-episode-3-review-the-entire-history-of-you/)’. [The Tunnel](https://www.denofgeek.com/the-tunnel/) (an English-language remake of Swedish/Danish hit [The Bridge](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-bridge-an-unforgettable-scandinavian-drama/)). On screen, Martini has also appeared in [Endeavour](https://www.denofgeek.com/endeavour/), Doctor Thorne and modern Oz series Emerald City. [Line of Duty Series 2](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/explaining-the-line-of-duty-series-2-finale/). [Howard Stark](https://www.denofgeek.com/howard-stark/) in Captain America: The First Avenger and [Agent Carter](https://www.denofgeek.com/agent-carter/), among many other roles including the lead in Bond creator series Fleming, Spy City, An Education, Tamara Drewe and more. Harris starred opposite Joel Edgerton in 2022’s The Stranger – roles for which both lost a significant amount of weight – and has appeared in feature films [The Green Knight](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/the-green-knight-review-king-arthur-movie/), The King, Macbeth, [Mission Impossible](https://www.denofgeek.com/mission-impossible/): Fallout and Rogue Nation, UK cult horror Possum, ’71, Prometheus, 24 Hour Party People and more. Welsh actor Tom Cullen plays real-life Bristolian (via Solihull) gold dealer John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer in the BBC drama. Elliott plays real-life detective inspector Tony Brightwell in The Gold, after playing Kenny in the creator’s previous BBC thriller Guilt (an excellent Scottish comedy-drama, seek it out). He deliberately subverted that type in 2022 Netflix horror [I Came By](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/i-came-by-netflix-horror-ending/) by playing a former judge with a very dark side, and goes a little against it here as real-life police officer and former soldier DCI Brian Boyce, the detective leading up the special task force assigned to the Brink’s-Mat robbery. After providing the voice of Angelina Ballerina as a child actor, Spencer played the brief but memorable role of Carly Kirk, a teenager coerced into sex work and thought murdered by a criminal gang in

New BBC drama The Gold tells the story of an audacious heist in the Eighties.

The money in these was then ploughed back into UK building developments including London’s Docklands, and, as per [The Independent:](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/police-traced-laundered-money-around-the-world-detectives-described-it-as-a-typical-old-kent-road-armed-robbery-except-that-this-gang-had-pounds-26m-worth-of-gold-to-dispose-of-david-connett-reports-1540983.html) “A portion was used to buy a former section of Cheltenham Ladies' College, which was then converted into flats for sale.” [The Independent ](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/whatever-happened-to-brinksmat-1353688.html)reports that “half of it was smelted and sold back to legitimate dealers, including Johnson Matthey, to whom it belonged”, while another half was simply buried and remains undiscovered. However, in 1986, Noye was found guilty of conspiracy to handle the Brink's-Mat gold, fined £500,000, plus £200,000 costs, and sentenced to 14 years in prison. It's said that Noye melted down the bullions and mixed them with copper coins to dilute the purity of the gold, but also to make it less traceable, as the police were desperately trying to locate the gold, and the people making a fortune from it. In 1992, four people who helped launder the gold – an estimated £14 million – were jailed for five to ten years, including Gordon Parry, Brian Perry, Patrick Clark and Jean Savage. Brian Reader, Michael Relton and Kathleen MacAvoy also were convicted of laundering proceeds or handling stolen goods. Antony Black eventually cracked and told police of his involvement, and of his brother-in-law, Brian Robinson. The men tied up two other security guards, and threatened to douse them in petrol unless they used their codes to open up the vault. One of these was Kenneth Noye (Lowden) who was brought in by MacAvoy’s associates, Brian Perry and George Francis, to help with his stash. At 6.40am on 26 November, 1983, six men, including Micky MacAvoy and Brian Robinson, broke into the Brink’s-Mat warehouse, specifically Unit 7 of the Heathrow International Trading Estate. It’s so far reaching, they had to whittle it down to this so there’ll inevitably be things that have been left out and Neil has also got to make it entertaining”. The burglars had no idea what to do with the gold, so they called in some criminal acquaintances to help turn it into cash.

The new BBC drama series was inspired by the infamous Brink's-Mat robbery of 1983.

He fled to Spain but was extradited, convicted of the murder in April 2000 and sentenced to life; he was eventually released from prison in June 2019. Most of the gold stolen in the Brink’s-Mat robbery was never recovered. Brian Robinson was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to 25 years in prison. In the robbery, around £26 million worth of gold bullion, diamonds and money were stolen. The four part series tells the story of the £26 million worth of gold bullion, diamonds and cash stolen from a Heathrow warehouse in 1983. Gangster Kenneth Noye was tasked with disposing of the stolen gold.

The Gold is based on the incredible real-life Brink's-Mat heist and the effect it had on the world. But how much of the crime drama is true?

And then there's the so-called "Curse of the Brink's-Mat millions", which refers to a number of violent shooting deaths. In September 1984, less than a year after the Brink's-Mat robbery, the banking and gold-trading arm of Johnson Matthey collapsed. These victims were members of the London criminal underworld and allegedly involved in the laundering of the gold. It was never the gang's intention to find millions of pounds worth of gold bullion inside the Brink's-Mat depot. In 1996, it was estimated half of the precious metal, had made its way into the legitimate gold market. One of the robbers, Micky McAvoy, entrusted his share to associates Brian Perry and George Francis. It tells the story of how, in November 1983, a gang of armed men attempted to steal foreign currency from a security depot near Heathrow airport and ended up making off with £26 million in gold bullion. [Slow Horses](https://www.whattowatch.com/watching-guides/slow-horses-release-date-cast-first-looks-and-all-about-the-spy-thriller-starring-gary-oldman)' actor Jack Lowden portrays London criminal Kenneth Noye, who was enlisted by the robbers to help with the disposal of the bullion. star Dominic Cooper takes on the part of dodgy solicitor and businessman, Edwyn Cooper, who became mixed up in the whole saga. In total, the men made their getaway with £26 million worth of gold, un-cut diamonds and money. The Gold creator Neil Forsyth and show researcher, Thomas Turner, worked through 40 years worth of criminal trials, police interviews, media archives and unpublished records to ensure viewers had an accurate version of events. But how much of the crime drama is true?