10 Most Famous Bank Heists In The UK

Image by Steffen Salow from Pixabay

10 Most Famous Bank Heists in the UK

The United Kingdom has been a center of attraction for robbers in history who target jewelry and money from unsecured banks and financial institutions. For centuries, robbers have managed to break into different banks and make away with millions of dollars that would accumulate to billions. Some of the greatest bank heists have been a mystery as the money has never been recovered despite arresting the culprits and putting them behind bars. The most famous bank robberies have led to an unstable economy forcing the government to intervene and ensure that the money is recovered.

Below is a list of the top ten most famous bank heists in the UK.

1. The Baker Street Robbery

The Baker Street was a secure place with police and detectives all over the place who ensured that Lloyds bank was safe. However, a group of daring thieves planned and pulled off a robbery in the middle of the street without the police noticing. In September, 971, a team of thieves led by Brian Reader rented an apartment a few doors from the Lloyd bank’s main entrance. They planned for the heist by digging a tunnel that was fifty feet long, opening inside the bank’s vault. The police in the street got the rumors about the planned heist and searched the nearby banks but found no evidence. Therefore the detectives relaxed and allowed the robbers to pull off the robbery, getting away with three million dollars. The news about the robbery did not surface, and the government had advised so because of theories around the robbery.

2. The Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery. Photo by Edwin S. Porter. Wikimedia Commons

A goods train was on the way from Glasgow transporting valuable items when f robbers arranged a heist to seize the goods and money. The 1963 train robbery is arguably the latest and precisely planned heist in the history of robberies in the UK. A team of fifteen men planned for months to steal goods from a train on the way to London. The train would normally carry goods worth less than fifty thousand dollars. However, the robbers hit the jackpot because the train was transporting notes worth more than three million dollars that day. They stopped the train with red flags as the driver thought they were train employees. They forced the driver to show them the vault where they beat up the train employees and escaped with more than three million dollars cash.

3. The Brink’s Mat Robbery

November 1983 was a tragic year for the staff at the Heathrow international company as they were forced to participate in a robbery. A group of six heavy gunmen gained access to the company premises through the security guards. The robbers took hostage the employees of the company and threatened to burn them alive if they refused to show the vault combinations. The robbers had high expectations to steal money from the bank, amounting to more than three million dollars. However, they failed to find money but stole gold and other valuables in the company that amounted to more than twenty-five million dollars. The robbers melted the gold and mixed it with other metals before selling it to the market. Two of the six robbers were arrested and convicted.

4. The Securitas Depot Robbery

Photo by Maxim Hopman on Unsplash

There had been a series of bank robberies in the history of the UK, but the police had never witnessed a heist that involved money only. The heist also took long hours to be executed, making it the longest robbery in history. The robbers planned to abduct the depot manager with his family and look for a way to steal the money. The thieves stole a police car and made fake police uniforms, where they kidnapped Mr. Colin Dixon, the manager of the depot company. They also went on to kidnap his wife and an eight-year-old child. The next day, they went to the depot with the manager in the car’s trunk and captured the employees. They tied the manager, his family, and the employees in a dark room as they loaded a lorry with cash from the company. They managed to pack more than fifty million dollars. After the heist, more than thirty people were arrested in connection with the robbery, but the money has never been recovered.

5. The Hatton Gardens Robbery

The Hatton gardens robbery is the most recent in the twenty-first century. Although the heist did not involve much money or expensive jewelry, the people involved caught the media’s attention. The oldest person in the crew was Brian Reader, who was over seventy years when he was arrested in line with the robbery. The rest of the crew members were also old, as the average age for the team was slightly over sixty years. The men and women had lived long enough to know the company’s operations. The robber made their way into the depot company and destroyed the doors leading to the vault. They stole money from the boxes as they filled the nearby vans. The gang members were arrested in the following years as the police recovered part of the stolen money.

6. The Security Express Heist

Photo by Nikita Pavlov on Unsplash

1983 was full of calamities, including gun violence and robbery in the United Kingdom. The heist was simple and well organized as the robber managed to steal more than six million dollars from the security express company. Ronnie Knight was the mastermind behind the robbery, as he had been in several other bank robberies. The east London-based company was on the brink of collapsing after the heist but recovered. Knight and his fellow gang members were arrested in the subsequent years. Terence Perkins was one of the robbers who was arrested and convicted for the previous bank robberies.

7. The Graff Diamond Heist

The stealing of diamonds was also recorded as the most famous heist in history because of the amount of money involved. The robbers entered one of the biggest diamond stores and forced people to give up every valuable ornament. They stormed the store on the evening of August 2009. The robbers pretended to be clients interested in buying gold and, therefore, gained the trust of the customer’s desk. They forced the employees to show them the location of the diamonds. While in the vault, they stole jewelry that would cost 3 million in a heist that lasted for half an hour. After getting outside the company, the robbers fired shots in the air and got away in the nearby car, leaving people with questions.

8. The Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Center Robbery

Image by Steffen Salow from Pixabay

Before the heist occurred, Valeri Viccei had just secured the help of the directing manager at the safe deposit company Pervez Latif. However, he had a different mission on his new adventure in the UK- stealing from the company. While in the UK, Viccei, alongside his criminal partner, made their way into the company. They pretended to be customers and asked where they could deposit their money. However, as soon as they saw the vault, they pulled out guns and forced the employees to comply or die. They packed more than sixty million dollars before fleeing the scene in a runaway car. The group members of the robbery group have since been arrested, and some money has been returned to the company.

9. The Midland Bank Clearing Robbery

A Securicor driver was on the way to the Sanford bank in Manchester before a group of people intercepted him with questions. The driver was a few kilometers to the desired destiny when a group of robbers stopped the driver and forced their way into the back of the van. The driver cooperated in fear for his life because the robbers were armed with guns and ammunition. They also got away with more than six million dollars from the van, leaving the driver to deliver an empty van with a message. The robbers have been arrested because the driver can recognize them.

10. The Northern Ireland Bank Robbery

The northern bank robbery is arguably the quietest bank robbery in history, where nobody was hurt, and no weapon was used. They managed to pull off a quiet heist because they had help from the senior management. The robbers had posed as police, kidnapped the bank manager, and taken his family hostage. They instructed the manager to report quietly to work the next day if he wanted his wife and children to survive. The manager took the risk and gave away the money in exchange for the lives of his children and wife. The manager helped open the vault where the robbers packed more than twenty-five million dollars in the crates and walked out in the middle of the night. The robbers have been arrested, and some money has been recovered.

The people in the United Kingdom have been in the headlines with shocking bank heists where gunmen got away with millions of dollars. The robbers have escaped in most heists because they plan their robberies. However, they also cooperate with people from the management or inside the company to gain access to the company.