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List of heists in the United Kingdom

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Man painted by Rembrandt, also the most stolen picture in the world
The Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III by Rembrandt has been stolen four times in total

A heist is a theft of cash or valuable objects such as artworks, jewellery or bullion. This can take the form of either a burglary or a robbery, the difference in English and Welsh law being that a robbery uses force (which means that some of the heists commonly known as robberies were actually burglaries).[1][2] In order to be listed here, each heist which took place in the United Kingdom is required to have taken over £1 million at contemporary rates, or to have been notable for other reasons.

History

The earliest heist on the list is the Great Gold Robbery of 1855, in which railway safes were pillaged on a train going from London to Paris. The gang stole £12,000, equivalent to £1,416,000 in 2023, taking inflation into account.[3][4] The largest heist in terms of the amount stolen (also one of the world's biggest) was the 1990 City bonds robbery, when a courier carrying 301 bearer bonds worth £291.9 million (equivalent to £838 million in 2023) was mugged on a small City of London street. All but two of the certificates were subsequently recovered, with the heist revealing the global nature of organised crime networks and directly leading to two murders.[5][6]

The Baker Street robbery was an audacious heist in 1971 which netted the criminals an estimated £3 million (equivalent to £54 million in 2023). They tunnelled into a vault below a Lloyds Bank from a shop two doors down the road. Whilst four people were convicted, only one of the five ringleaders had been caught.[7] The Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of April 2015 shared some similarities with the Baker Street robbery.[7] Five members of the gang were quickly arrested, yet a sixth man known only as "Basil" remained free. He was caught in 2018, when the police raided his flat and found gold and jewellery worth £143,000.[8]

Diagram of tunnel into bank vault
The tunnel dug in preparation for the Baker Street robbery

It later transpired that Brian Reader was the mastermind of both the Baker Street and the Hatton Garden heists. He was 76 at the time of the latter.[7] Reader had also been involved in the Brink's-Mat robbery of 1983, for which he served eight years in prison.[9] Terry Perkins was another member of the Hatton Garden gang, who had previously been convicted for his part in the 1983 Security Express robbery and sentenced to 22 years. He absconded from HM Prison Spring Hill and was on the run for 17 years before being caught and serving out the rest of his sentence.[10] Perkins died in HM Prison Belmarsh in 2018, aged 69.[11] Perkins and Danny Jones (also convicted for the Hatton Garden robbery) were both linked to a previous heist at the Chatila jewellers in Old Bond Street, in 2010.[12]

Another large heist was the Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery in 1986, which took at least £40 million (equivalent to £148 million in 2023). An Italian man later received a 22 year prison sentence for planning the venture with the help of an insider.[13] The gang which carried out the Securitas depot robbery in 2006 impersonated police officers in order to take the manager and his family hostage, stealing £53 million (equivalent to £97 million in 2023) and leaving another £153 million behind for lack of space in the getaway vehicle. Five men were later convicted and given sentences of between five and ten years.[13] The Northern Bank robbery was Northern Ireland's biggest robbery in 2004. Two managers and their families were taken hostage on Sunday and the heist took place on Monday evening. The Democratic Unionist Party accused the Provisional Irish Republican Army of organising it but nobody has ever been convicted.[14] Likewise, no-one responsible for the 1952 Eastcastle Street robbery was ever apprehended, although gangster Billy Hill admitted to organising it in his memoirs.[15]

The network of criminals termed the Pink Panthers has been linked to several robberies of the Graff jewellery shops in London.[16] The Johnson Gang robbed many stately homes, including Ramsbury Manor, then the home of Harry Hyams, where they plundered goods worth approximately £30 million and Waddesdon Manor, where they took snuffboxes worth £5 million.[17]

Golden toilet
A golden toilet by Maurizio Cattelan

Regarding artworks, the Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III by Rembrandt is held by Dulwich Picture Gallery and has been stolen a total of four times.[18][19] The painting, which is 12 by 10 inches (30 by 25 cm), was first stolen in 1967 along with 13 other works; they were all found within a week. It was next taken in 1973 by a thief who jumped on a bicycle to make his getaway and was caught within minutes. In 1981, three men took the painting and it was later retrieved from a taxi. The last theft occurred in 1983, when thieves broke into the gallery using ladders; the painting was discovered three years later at a station in Münster, Germany.[20] The Portrait of the Duke of Wellington by Goya was stolen in 1961 from the National Gallery in London. Four years later, Kempton Bunton returned the painting and later gave himself up to the police, although it was revealed long after his death that it was actually his son who had stolen the artwork.[21]

Other stolen artworks include Two Forms (Divided Circle) by Barbara Hepworth which was taken from Dulwich Park in 2011 and Reclining Figure 1969–70 by Henry Moore, stolen in 2005.[22][23] America was a golden toilet made as an artwork by Maurizio Cattelan. It was plumbed in to the water mains and being exhibited at Blenheim Palace when it was stolen in 2019. Cattelan said the thieves were "great performers".[24]

Heists

Name Illustration Location Year Amount[3]
America Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire 2019 £4.6 million (equivalent to £5.77 million in 2023)[25]
Baker Street robbery Bank building Baker Street, London 1971 Around £3 million (equivalent to £54 million in 2023)[26]
Bank of America robbery Mayfair, London 1975 £8 million (equivalent to £85 million in 2023)[27]
Brink's-Mat robbery Heathrow International Trading Estate, London 1983 £26 million (equivalent to £100 million in 2023)[13]
Buccleuch Madonna Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland 2003 £25 million (equivalent to £50 million in 2023)[28]
City bonds robbery Alleyway Nicholas Lane, City of London 1990 £291.9 million (equivalent to £800 million in 2023)[5]
Chatila heist Old Bond Street, London 2010 £1 million (equivalent to £2 million in 2023)[12]
Croydon Aerodrome robbery Croydon Airport, London 1935 £21,000 (equivalent to £1,800,000 in 2023)[29]
Eastcastle Street robbery Eastcastle Street, London 1952 £287,000 (equivalent to £10,430,801 in 2023)[15]
Marlborough diamond robbery Sloane Street, London 1980 £1.5 million (equivalent to £10 in 2023 million)[30]
Graff workshop robbery Hatton Garden workshop, London 1993 £7 million (equivalent to £18 in 2023 million)[31]
Graff robbery 2003 New Bond Street, London 2003 £23 million (equivalent to £50 in 2023 million)[16]
Graff robbery 2005 Sloane Street, London 2005 £2 million (equivalent to £4 in 2023 million)[16]
Graff robbery 2007 Sloane Street, London 2007 £10 million (equivalent to £20 in 2023 million)[16]
Graff Diamonds robbery New Bond Street, London 2009 £40 million (equivalent to £68 in 2023 million)[13]
Great Gold Robbery Between London and Folkestone 1855 £12,000 (equivalent to £1,416,000 in 2023)[4]
Great Train Robbery Mentmore, Buckinghamshire 1963 £2.6 million (equivalent to £100 million in 2023)[13]
Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary Hatton Garden, London 2015 £14 million (equivalent to £20 million in 2023)[1]
Knightsbridge Security Deposit robbery Knightsbridge, London 1987 £40 million (equivalent to £148 million in 2023)[13]
Linwood bank robbery Linwood near Glasgow 1969 £14,000 (equivalent to £291,000 in 2023)[32]
Midland Bank Clearing Centre Salford, Manchester 1995 £6.6 million (equivalent to £20 million in 2023)[1]
Northern Bank robbery Belfast 2004 £26.5 million (equivalent to £100 million in 2023)[33]
Portland Tiara Harley Gallery and Foundation, Nottinghamshire 2018 "National treasure"[34]
Portrait of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire Thomas Agnew & Sons, Mayfair, London 1876 £10,605 (equivalent to £1,260,000 in 2023)[35]
Portrait of Jacob de Gheyn III Dulwich Picture Gallery, London 1967, 1973, 1981, 1983 Valued at $10 million in 2011, or approximately £6.2 million (equivalent to £10 million in 2023)[36]
Portrait of the Duke of Wellington National Gallery, London 1961 £140,000 (equivalent to £3,936,000 million in 2023)[21]
Ramsbury Manor Ramsbury, Wiltshire 2006 £30 million (equivalent to £55 million in 2023)[17]
Reclining Figure 1969–70 Perry Green, Hertfordshire 2005 £3 million (equivalent to £6 million in 2023)[23]
Securitas depot robbery Tonbridge, Kent 2006 £53 million (equivalent to £100 million in 2023)[37]
Security Express Shoreditch, London 1983 £6 million (equivalent to £26 million in 2023)[1]
Two Forms (Divided Circle) Dulwich Park, London 2011 £500,000 (equivalent to £770,000 in 2023)[22]
View of Auvers-sur-Oise Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 2000 £3 million (equivalent to £6 million in 2023)[38]
Waddesdon Manor Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire 2003 £5 million (equivalent to £10 million in 2023)[17]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Grierson, Jamie (14 January 2016). "The UK's top 10 heists". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 June 2020. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  2. ^ Theft Act. 1968. Archived from the original on 2020-05-07. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
  3. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  4. ^ a b "The Great Gold Robbery, 1855". British Transport Police. n.d. Archived from the original on 24 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  5. ^ a b Friedberg, Arthur L. (27 April 2020). "Rare £1,000,000 Bank of England Treasury note is in sale". Coin World. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  6. ^ Thompson, Tony (1996). Gangland Britain: Inside Britain's most dangerous gangs (eBook). Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-4447-1985-7. Retrieved 20 June 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Lashmar, Paul (15 January 2016). "Hatton Garden ringleader 'also masterminded Lloyds heist 45 years ago'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Hatton Garden ringleader 'Basil' found guilty over £14m heist". The Guardian. 15 March 2019. Archived from the original on 9 June 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  9. ^ Sandford, Daniel (9 December 2015). "Hatton Garden Heist: Brink's-Mat link". BBC News. Archived from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  10. ^ Beake, Nick (14 January 2016). "Was Hatton Garden for burglar's pension?". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  11. ^ Patel-Carstairs, Sunita (5 February 2018). "Hatton Garden raid ringleader Terry Perkins dies in prison". Sky News. Archived from the original on 26 June 2020. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  12. ^ a b "Mayfair burglary heist jury discharged". BBC News. 3 March 2017. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "High-profile heists". BBC News. 11 August 2009. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  14. ^ Bowcott, Owen; Oliver, Ted (22 December 2004). "£20m stolen in UK's biggest bank robbery – was it paramilitaries or common criminals?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  15. ^ a b Campbell, Duncan (23 January 2016). "One last job: the inside story of the Hatton Garden heist". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 May 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d Chiu, Richard. "Pink Panthers: Europe's mysterious gang of thieves". Jeweller Magazine. Archived from the original on 16 August 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  17. ^ a b c Sharp, Rob (27 January 2009). "The Johnsons: "Britain's No 1 crime family"?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  18. ^ Esterow, Milton (15 August 2011). "How Rembrandts Were Stolen 81 Times". Art News. Retrieved 11 July 2020.
  19. ^ Amore, Anthony M.; Mashberg, Tom (2011). Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists (eBook). St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-230-33742-8. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  20. ^ Amore, Anthony M.; Mashberg, Tom (2011). Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists (eBook). St. Martin's Publishing Group. pp. 63–68. ISBN 978-0-230-33742-8. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  21. ^ a b Hutchinson, Jeremy (n.d.). "The 'theft' of the Duke of Wellington". The Lady. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  22. ^ a b Hough, Andrew (20 December 2011). "Barbara Hepworth: £500k 'Two Forms' sculpture stolen by metal thieves". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  23. ^ a b "£3m Henry Moore sculpture stolen". 17 December 2005. Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  24. ^ "Artist behind £4.8m gold toilet praises thieves who have taken it". Sky News. 15 September 2019. Archived from the original on 14 September 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  25. ^ Media, P. A. (15 September 2019). "Artist pans claims he orchestrated theft of solid gold toilet". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 September 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  26. ^ Bowers, Gordon (2016). The Great Diamond Heist – The Incredible True Story of the Hatton Garden Diamond Geezers. Kings Road Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78606-078-5. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  27. ^ "The role of the 'inside man'". BBC News. 28 January 2008. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  28. ^ Cramb, Auslan (4 October 2007). "Four held as stolen da Vinci painting found". Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  29. ^ Whalley, Kirsty (26 January 2009). "Secrets of gold bullion heist revealed". Sutton & Croydon Guardian. Archived from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  30. ^ "Armed robbers in '£1m' Graff jewellery heist". Daily Telegraph. 28 May 2005. Archived from the original on 28 July 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  31. ^ Davenport, Justin (11 August 2009). "£40m Mayfair raid is biggest gems heist in British history". Evening Standard. London. Archived from the original on 12 August 2009. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  32. ^ Smith, Paul (2014). Heist: The Inside Story of Scotland's Most Notorious Raids (eBook). Birlinn. ISBN 978-0-85790-805-6. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  33. ^ "Police say IRA behind bank raid". BBC News. 7 January 2005. Archived from the original on 1 January 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  34. ^ Hardy, Jack (7 December 2018). "Four arrested over theft of 'national treasure' tiara during audacious gallery raid". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 December 2018. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  35. ^ "Gainsborough's "Duchess of Devonshire"". The Sydney Mail. 13 October 1877. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  36. ^ Amore, Anthony M.; Mashberg, Tom (2011). Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists (eBook). St. Martin's Publishing Group. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-230-33742-8. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  37. ^ "£53m raid gang 'kidnapped child'". 26 June 2007. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  38. ^ Ezard, John (3 January 2000). "Smoke bomb masks burglar's theft of £3m Cezanne". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 December 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
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