Author(s): Wensley Clarkson

TRUE CRIME

'It's a curse because everyone connected to Brink's-Mat stands to get topped sooner or later' Legendary South London villain Georgie Francis, shortly before he was shot dead by a hitman. The Brink's-Mat raid was the robbery of the century, the stuff of legends in the criminal underworld. On November 26, 1983, a group of robbers burst into the Brink's-Mat warehouse near Heathrow Airport, expecting to find a decent-sized haul of cash - but instead they stumbled upon nearly seven thousand gold bars worth GBP28 million. More than twenty-five years later, GBP20 million of bullion remains unrecovered, and it is thought that most people in possession of gold jewellery made in the UK after 1983 are wearing Brink's-Mat. Wensley Clarkson is the leading expert on the crime. In addition to having met and interviewed many of its most important figures on both sides of the law, he has secured the co-operation of several members of the original gang to provide unprecedented insight into what happened. This is the definitive account, not just of the robbery itself but of its aftermath, its legacy in modern crime, and the infamous 'curse' that has seen so many of those associated with the gold meet a violent end.