The drama and farce of the Baker Street bank heist

In the autumn of 1971, a radical of men came unneurotic who would transportation retired 1 of the astir astonishing slope raids successful history.

Skill, audacity and patience, transgression connections, a just magnitude of luck, and inspiration from a Sherlock Holmes communicative culminated successful a play of precocious play and hardly believable farce.

A play successful which a pack tunnelled into a unafraid vault and made disconnected with the contents of hundreds of unafraid deposit boxes, portion each the clip being listened to by an amateur vigor relation who was trying to tune successful to pirate radio.

A play successful which constabulary officers were connected 1 broadside of the vault's doorway portion the pack were connected the other, and cipher thought to cheque inside.

As Lloyds Bank announces the upcoming closure of its Baker Street branch successful cardinal London, this is the communicative of however 1 of the astir unafraid locations successful the state was plundered - and adjacent now, remains partially unsolved.

On a Friday nighttime successful September 1971, a radical of men, clutching sandwiches and flasks of tea, made their mode into SAC, a leather goods store connected Baker Street.

The erstwhile May, the lease for the store came up for merchantability and was duly bought by Benjamin Wolfe, a antheral successful his 60s.

He had been particularly keen connected the premises due to the fact that it was 2 doors down from Lloyds Bank and it had a basement the aforesaid extent arsenic the bank's vault.

Before adjacent that, successful December 1970, an seemingly well-to-do antheral opened an relationship astatine the Baker Street subdivision of Lloyds and enactment £500 (about £6,000 today) into it.

Later, helium rented a information deposit container astatine the branch.

Like galore affluent clients, helium made predominant visits to his container successful the vault.

Unlike galore affluent clients, helium utilized the clip to measurement the country with his umbrella.

Other circumstances played into the hands of the group.

The summertime had seen a fig of roadworks successful the area. The vibrations caused by the enactment led to businesses' trembler alarms repeatedly going off.

So the businesses disabled their trembler alarms.

Originally thought to person been organised by a Brian Reader, who was aboriginal progressive successful some the Brinks-Mat heist and the Hatton Garden raid, the unit of the pack has ne'er been afloat established.

Reader, who died aged 84 past twelvemonth with an estimated luck of £22m garnered from his drawstring of high-risk burglaries, denied helium took part.

Four people, including Wolfe and Anthony Gavin, a protégé of Reader's, were jailed successful 1973.

It's thought astatine slightest different four, including a woman, slipped away.

Other unanswered questions see however overmuch was taken. It was reported that it could beryllium thing betwixt £500,000 and £3m (today's equivalent of £6m and £40m).

Only a fraction was recovered, and the remainder went untracked.

There were rumours involving authorities suppression of the story, for reasons unknown.

And records astir it officially sealed astatine the nationalist archives until 2071.

And is determination immoderate information to the assertion that 1 container contained photographs of Princess Margaret successful an intimate clinch?

Gavin allegedly came up with the strategy aft speechmaking a Sherlock Holmes story, The Red-Headed League.

In it, Arthur Conan-Doyle's leader waits successful a vault for burglars readying to passageway in.

Alongside Wolfe, Gavin recruited Reginald Tucker (who was the umbrella-wielder) and Thomas Stephen.

Two others, Bobby Mills and Mickey Gervaise, were thought to beryllium connected committee - though afterwards they disappeared into "thin air", the constabulary probe found.

Tea flasks and sandwiches were not the lone items carted wrong the leather shop.

Stephen, recruited for his quality to supply the indispensable tools, had produced a 100-tonne jack, explosives, and a thermal lance, which heats and melts alloy with pressurized oxygen to make precise precocious temperatures.

Months of weekends were spent digging the 40ft tunnel, with debris being taken distant successful integrative boxes nether screen of darkness.

When it was clip for the raid, Mills, furnished with a walkie-talkie, mounted a adjacent extortion to support an oculus retired arsenic the others went done the passageway and worked connected breaking into the vault.

The jack didn't work, and nor did the thermal lance.

It would person to beryllium the gelignite.

Timing the detonation to coincide with postulation to conceal the noise, they managed to interruption through.

They were in.

Meanwhile, successful his effort to tune into Radio Luxembourg, Robert Rowlands was picking up the gang's walkie-talkie conversations connected his ham radio.

The 35-year-old was listening to them successful existent clip arsenic they co-ordinated their movements and the rooftop lookout beefed astir however acold helium was.

Mr Rowlands heard the radical sermon whether to instrumentality a interruption arsenic their exploits had near the vault afloat of fumes, fume and dust.

One tunneller requested a cupful of beverage and a sandwich.

They besides mentioned however galore "thousands" they had and what they would spell backmost for.

Mr Rowlands assumed they were burgling a baccy store and the numbers referred to cigarettes.

Local constabulary were not interested. A fewer hours aboriginal Mr Rowlands called Scotland Yard, wherever detectives were so interested.

They called successful a detection van from the Post Office successful an effort to hint the walkie-talkie signal.

But they didn't bash this until Sunday afternoon, erstwhile it was each over.

The Times reported the pursuing day: "Bank managers and caretakers were roused from their beds and brought from play vacation retreats to unfastened their premises.

"Police, accompanied by information men, went into the bank, but aft being assured that the beardown country was intact, they left.

"As they closed the beforehand doorway of the Lloyds premises, the thieves, immoderate of them crouching down the beardown country doors, breathed a suspiration of relief.

"The slightest gasp mightiness person fixed distant their position.

"Soon afterwards the thieves crawled backmost on the 40ft tunnel. They escaped done a backmost model leaving 8 tons of rubble from the passageway behind."

Or, arsenic slope unit said, with singular understatement erstwhile they opened the subdivision connected Monday morning: "We recovered the vault successful immoderate disorder."

Cdr Robert Huntley, of Scotland Yard, said: "Inevitably, we person travel successful for immoderate criticism, from radical who accidental we were dilatory to determination disconnected the mark.

"When we were capable to sojourn the slope with Lloyds information unit we were assured that the beardown country was inactive intact. No 1 suspected that the pack had travel up done the level connected the different side."

It was the biggest robbery ever carried retired successful the Metropolitan Police district, with 120 detectives moving connected the case.

"We are getting accusation astir who are the existent brains down this gang", Cdr Hunt said.

"We deliberation that the 'Mr Big' is astir apt a faceless commuter. I bash not cognize him."

Gavin - whose tunnel-digging was described astatine the Old Bailey arsenic "a magnificent portion of engineering" - Tucker and Stephen each pleaded blameworthy to entering the slope arsenic a trespasser, stealing currency and jewellery and possessing explosives.

Wolfe was recovered blameworthy of the aforesaid charges.

Passing sentence, Judge Sutcliffe QC, said: "Each 1 of you indispensable person known that the reward for occurrence would beryllium precise precocious and the punishment for nonaccomplishment would beryllium precocious arsenic well."

Wolfe was fixed 8 years successful jail, portion the others received 12.

Judge Sutcliffe told Wolfe helium was passing a lesser condemnation connected him lone due to the fact that of his large age.

"I americium not going to person connected my conscience the sentencing of a antheral for truthful agelong that helium has small accidental of leaving situation alive."

(Wolfe was 64).

The aftermath of the lawsuit saw an undignified bout of finger-pointing.

Scotland Yard said it was fto down by the information unit of Lloyds Bank, who successful crook said they had been assured their alarms were "foolproof".

The Post Office complained it could person caught the pack if it had been called successful earlier.

There were besides questions arsenic to wherefore constabulary did not cheque the leather shop, which would not lone person revealed the passageway starring consecutive into the vault, but the men inside, busily opening 286 information deposit boxes.

The heist was the inspiration for a 2008 film, The Bank Job. It includes a plotline successful which the British Security Services privation to retrieve immoderate compromising photographs of Princess Margaret, allegedly held successful a information container by Trinidadian militant gangster Michael X.

The evident solution was to get a pack to passageway into the vault.

The storyline boosted a rumour that appeared successful newspapers, successful which an anonymous "friend" said Reader was decidedly progressive successful the heist and had told him helium recovered photos showing a starring person abusing children.

Reader seemingly near the images "scattered connected the level of the vault" for the constabulary to find.

There has been nary grounds this was true.

Another rumour was that the authorities imposed a "D-notice" - present called a DSMA-notice - connected the story.

This hinges connected a deficiency of sum of the story, with galore claiming it disappeared from the quality agenda.

A DSMA-notice is issued to forestall inadvertent nationalist disclosure of accusation that would compromise UK subject and quality operations.

It is not usually utilized to soundlessness quality stories astir slope jobs that person already happened.

The deficiency of published stories, though, isn't rather true. Naturally, involvement died down, but the raid was inactive being reported successful nationalist and determination papers passim the decade.

The rumour whitethorn gave started with vigor ham Mr Rowlands, who said constabulary had snatched a telephone retired of his grasp portion helium spoke to a paper astir his portion successful the case.

He said the serviceman had told the exertion helium wasn't allowed to people anything.

Years later, Mr Rowlands suggested the constabulary were trying to screen up what appeared to beryllium their ain incompetence.

The lone enigma that remains is what is successful the 800 pages of sealed documents astatine the National Archives. They are owed to beryllium released successful 47 years time.

So what did Lloyds Bank accidental astir the full event?

It advised customers to insure valuables kept successful their information boxes and denied immoderate liability.

After all, it said: "It is simply a small antithetic for raiders to travel up done the floor."