Robert promptly called the local police station but his claims were treated lightly- no doubt because it was just after 11pm on a Saturday night; a time when drunken pranks were commonplace. The story, so it goes, begins some 4,200 miles away on the island of Mustique in St Vincent, where the princess hosted the most outrageous parties at the unlikely royal residence. [14], The gang began their entry into the vault on Friday 10 September, after the bank closed for the weekend. Sentencing March 7. Within days of the story breaking however, the British government slapped a D-Notice on it. The robbers had rented the leather goods shop LeSac, two doors north of the bank, and tunnelled a distance of approximately 50 feet (15m) passin. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. Stephens, Tucker, Wolfe and Gavin were charged with breaking into the bank and stealing the contents of the security boxesvalued at a minimum of 1.5millionand of possessing explosives; the two Gangjis were charged with handling stolen goods. They thought that during the burglary the woman was acting as a controller, based in a different location to the lookout and the gang. Details of MEPO 26/418; Reference: MEPO 26/418 Description: Benjamin WOLFE, Thomas Gray STEPHEN, Reginald Samuel TUCKER and Anthony GAVIN: convicted of aggravated burglary arising from the theft of cash and jewellery worth 1,250,000 from Lloyds Bank, 185 Baker Street, Marylebone, London NW1, between 10 and 13 September 1971. He drew a map of the room, plotting where the cabinets were and the position of the furniture. Early Wednesday morning, around 1 a.m. local time, Anthony Farrer 's Hollywood . "[32], At 2:00am Rowlands decided he had enough material recorded to call the police again; he did not recontact his local station, but phoned Scotland Yard directly. More info. Anthony Gavin, Thomas Stevens, Reginald Tucker and an unidentified accomplice rented a leather shop called Le Sac, which was two shops over from the Lloyd's Bank located at the corner of Baker St. and Marylebone Rd. The Baker Street robbery was the burglary of safety deposit boxes at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, on the night of 11 September 1971. The burglary was planned by Anthony Gavin, a career criminal, who was inspired by "The Red-Headed League", a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle in which Sherlock Holmes waits in a bank vault to arrest a gang who have tunnelled in through the floor. They searched 750 banks in an 8-mile (13km) radius, but failed to locate the gang. [30] Eight hundred pieces of evidence were logged and forensically examined. The world is full of unexplained events, strange mysteries, and mysterious legends. [69] A third rumour is that photographs of a Conservative cabinet minister abusing children were discovered by the gang and left behind for the police to find, but no action was taken. Meghan Meghan and Kate's relationship to grow 'MORE COMPLEX'. As for the loot, none of it was ever recovered. On Monday morning the manager of the Baker Street Lloyds branch opened for business and was horrified by the scene that met him. The robbery required a hitherto unseen level of patience and expertise from the thieves, utilizing then hard to obtain radio communications equipment, explosives, expensive digging machinery and even a thermal lance. Thanks for commenting, Wez. [73] A fictionalised version of the burglary is the subject of the 2008 film The Bank Job, which uses the storyline that the crime was either set upor later covered upby MI5 to secure the compromising photographs of Princess Margaret, that were being kept in a deposit box at the bank by Trinidadian radical Michael X. Despite this, sometime on Sunday morning, police did search the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank. Whereas this way we have all got 300 grand to cut up when we come back in the morning. Anthony Gavin, Thomas Stephens and Reginald Tucker did the tunnelling and the robbery itself. On one occasion she photographed several of her male friends naked on the beach. He later said that he lost 2 stone (28lb; 13kg) in the process. Whilst technically voluntary, the UK press would rarely break a D-notice, and several are still used and in effect today. Second voice: I suggest we carry on tonight, mate, and get it done with. A 12-inch-wide (30cm) hole was blasted through the floor and into the vault. With the robbers broadcasting their crime live over the airwaves, it's a mystery why the police never caught the Baker Street gang red-handed. There have been several rumours connected with the burglary, including one that the government issued a D-Notice to censor the press; that one of the safety deposit boxes contained compromising photographs of Princess Margaret and the actor and criminal John Bindon; and that photographs of a Conservative cabinet minister abusing children were found. Rowlands thinks this was the code for leaving the bank. "naused" is slang for to ruin or mess up. [70], In 1976 James Humphreys, a Soho-based pornographer and strip club owner, alleged that police officers had stolen 1million worth of gems "as their share" of the burglary. One curious piece of circumstantial evidence does exist, however. 1971 Baker Street Robbery Anthony Gavin, Thomas Stevens, Reginald Tucker and an unidentified accomplice rented a leather shop called Le Sac, which was two shops over from the Lloyd's Bank located at the corner of Baker St. and Marylebone Rd. "Yard inquiry into 'let down' over bank raid". Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. [3] Although the common name for the events is the "Baker Street Robbery", it is legally defined as a burglary. Micheal X's MI5 file is locked up until 2054, 83 years after the robbery and 79 years after his death. [24][14] The tunnel, which needed no supports, was later described in court as "a magnificent piece of engineering". The Baker Street Robbery took place in September 1971, when a small gang tunneled their way 40 feet under Lloyds Bank in Baker Street, breaking through the reinforced concrete floor with a thermal lance. Unlike many other high-profile criminals, such as the men behind the Great Train Robbery, the gang have remained resolutely discrete over the years. "Self preservation societies: a brief history of heists". Benjamin Wolfe, Anthony Gavin, Thomas Stephens and Reginald Tucker were arrested after Wolfe was found to have rented their base under his own name. [13][14] Another of Gavin's friends, Mickey "Skinny" Gervaise, a burglar-alarm expert, was brought on board, as were two men who have never been identified: "Little Legs" and "TH". Takings: None; the robbery was unsuccessful. Nobody was ever arrested. With limited resources and the need to ask the permission of each bank to search it, they failed to stop the gang in time. Of all the installers I had, he was by far the most responsible and honest. [43] The following day he adjourned the case; no reason was given and no date to resume proceedings was set. The Dunbar Armored robbery is the largest cash robbery to have occurred in the United States. The secrecy over the file of an obscure London gangster seems unwarranted. they reached their peak by pulling off the 1971 Baker . Revelations continue that many high-profile establishment figures were routinely protected, a conspiracy of silence preventing them from been exposed. The way the police seemed to be reluctant to catch the gang? No weapons were brandished, nor were any alarms triggered. [39], Police contacted bank staff and local security firms to open up their branches as they began to check 750 banks in an 8-mile (13km) radius. The Big London Underground Quiz - robslondon.com, Exploring Londons Pubs: Five Pubs, Five Stories. Investigators are colorfully . [26][30] On that morning bank staff opened the vault and found that they had been burgled. [3][c] A former army physical training instructor with connections to several career criminals, Gavin is described by the journalists Tom Pettifor and Nick Sommerlad as "a forceful personality [who] had the propensity to be physically threatening". The value of the property stolen is unknown, but is likely to have been between 1.25 and 3 million; [lower-alpha 1] only . Jordan Bowen reports. Unexplained Mysteries and Strange Things,Cool Interesting stuff has been online since early 2011. Links. 37, a company director, Tony Gavin, 38, a photographer from Dalston & Tom Stephens, 35, a car dealer from Islington. On the 1971 Baker Street Robbery. Anthony Gavin, Thomas Stephens and Reginald Tucker were jailed for their part in the robbery. The images were locked up as a result. On September 12, 1997, six men robbed the Dunbar Armored facility on Mateo St. in Downtown Los Angeles, California of US$18.9 million (equivalent to $30.5 million in 2020). Thirty-six years ago, one of the most remarkable and daring bank raids shocked Britain. At around 11:00pm on Saturday 11 September Robert Rowlands, an amateur radio enthusiast living in a flat in Wimpole Street, half a mile (800m) away from the Lloyds branch, picked up the walkie-talkie conversations of the gang in error. Eventually persuaded, they set out on a frantic search of hundreds of London's banks in an attempt to thwart the raid. [21] To avoid being overheard, they dug only during the weekends. It is not contested that a such a request was made to the press regarding their reporting of the Baker Street robbery. [30] It is not known if the gang were still in the vault at the time, although police suspect that they were, but keeping quiet following a warning from the lookout. With a tunnel leading straight from the bank vault to the basement of the Le Sac leather goods shop he had leased, he was essentially caught red-handed. Wheres Anthony Gavin and the others convicted now? document.getElementById( "ak_js" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. On the morning of Saturday 11th September 1971, the Metropolitan Police knew two solid facts about the bank robbery currently in progress somewhere in London. A member of the local security company alerted the gang of the timing of the digging and when the alarms were off. Two brothers have law offices in Baker street. Other recent reports suggest that the identity of the criminals and their sentences have never been revealed. Was there more to this daring crime than met the eye? It was this process that had generated the discussion about smoke and fumes which Robert Rowlands had eavesdropped upon. 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