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'An engrossing read that will grip you by the throat' (DAILY MAIL )
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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On a cold grey morning in 1983 a gang of masked and armed men stole 26 million in gold bullion from the Brink's-Mat high-security warehouse near Heathrow. The biggest robbery in British history, it unleashed a trail of murder, betrayal and revenge; forced a young woman into hiding for the rest of her life; and kick-started global money laundering. In on the heist from the very first, Kenneth Noye helped turn the gold into cash - and stabbed to death the undercover policeman sent to catch him. Acquitted of murder, Noye spent ten years in jail for handling the gold. Released, he stabbed another man to death in Britain's first 'road rage' killing. This time, he ran. Will Pearson's searing, no-punches-pulled page-turner takes us from the grimy back streets of Peckham via secret Spanish villas and a Cosa Nostra Florida condominium to the high life in Switzerland, playing an expert light on one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of crime: a tale of criminal cunning and stupidity in equal measure; of brilliant detective work marred by Keystone Cops-style failure; greed, ostentation, high-rolling gangsters, their wives and mistresses, and 'Brinks' & 'Mat', the Rottweilers bought to guard ill-gotten gains.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Brinks Mat robbery really deserves its place in popular culture. A bunch of chancers with an inside man stumble across £26 million worth of highest quality gold bullion when they raid a Heathrow secure lock-up.
It was the biggest robbery in British crominal history and, in many ways, the strangest. How Brian Perry managed to convert the gold, which he wasn't expecting to net, into millions of hard currency is remarkable.
Now it looks crazy. The tale of the rural office of Barclays that took on extra staff to deal with the huge cash withdrawals that were happening on a weekly basis as members of the gang who weren't in jail managed to get their re-smelted, dodgy, gold re-assayed and sold on the open market is extra-ordinary. It bring to mind Al Pacino in 'Scraface' dumping huge piles of loot in bin bags.
The in-your-face audacity of the villains - who call their Rottweilers 'Brinks' and 'Mat' and rig their doorbells to play 'goldfinger' - is breathtaking.
As a resident of south London and now Kent, the fact that this all happened on my 'manor' gives the book a piquancy.
At the heart of the drama is Kenneth Noye, mason. informant, gold-smelter, murderer. Wensley Clarkson did a pretty good biography of Noye recently, but in terms of following what the Hell happened to the gold, Will Pearson's work is superior. Noye is a villain, a real, proper, nasty villain, and he is lucidly drawn here.
This is a great book; I read it practically at one sitting. I would thoroughly recommend it to everyone and if the last sentence doesn't get you looking at your jewellery, you don't have a heart.
It was the biggest robbery in British crominal history and, in many ways, the strangest. How Brian Perry managed to convert the gold, which he wasn't expecting to net, into millions of hard currency is remarkable.
Now it looks crazy. The tale of the rural office of Barclays that took on extra staff to deal with the huge cash withdrawals that were happening on a weekly basis as members of the gang who weren't in jail managed to get their re-smelted, dodgy, gold re-assayed and sold on the open market is extra-ordinary. It bring to mind Al Pacino in 'Scraface' dumping huge piles of loot in bin bags.
The in-your-face audacity of the villains - who call their Rottweilers 'Brinks' and 'Mat' and rig their doorbells to play 'goldfinger' - is breathtaking.
As a resident of south London and now Kent, the fact that this all happened on my 'manor' gives the book a piquancy.
At the heart of the drama is Kenneth Noye, mason. informant, gold-smelter, murderer. Wensley Clarkson did a pretty good biography of Noye recently, but in terms of following what the Hell happened to the gold, Will Pearson's work is superior. Noye is a villain, a real, proper, nasty villain, and he is lucidly drawn here.
This is a great book; I read it practically at one sitting. I would thoroughly recommend it to everyone and if the last sentence doesn't get you looking at your jewellery, you don't have a heart.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
On the murky morning of 26 November 1983 a group of dangerous south London criminals infiltrated the Brinks Mat Unit 7 warehouse, intent on robbing a few million, but ended up leaving with £26.5m worth of gold bullion. This book is a detailed account of what happened next.
At times the book is brilliant, especially in the first half - Pearson encapsulates the fear of "insider" Tony Black superbly. The problem is when the book moves on to the failed attempts to retrace the gold. So many new faces are introduced it is difficult to keep up, although of course Kenneth Noye gets the most airtime.
Don't be too put off by the 3 star rating - it's well worth a read - the conclusions just seemed unsatisfactory. After all, the gold, and the money, is still out there somewhere...
At times the book is brilliant, especially in the first half - Pearson encapsulates the fear of "insider" Tony Black superbly. The problem is when the book moves on to the failed attempts to retrace the gold. So many new faces are introduced it is difficult to keep up, although of course Kenneth Noye gets the most airtime.
Don't be too put off by the 3 star rating - it's well worth a read - the conclusions just seemed unsatisfactory. After all, the gold, and the money, is still out there somewhere...
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
All in all a good piece of investigative writing but nothing new. There are many factors not gone into and the section on Noye has been covered better by Wensley Clarkson but the book gives a good insight into what happened. That notwithstanding, having met a couple of the people involved, there is a lot more that could have been written about the aftermath and the laundering. I am amazed that there aren't more books 'about' the robbery. It's taken a long while for one to appear.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A Well-Told Story of a Sensational Robbery
The Brink's-Mat robbery is one of the most famous in the history of British crime. This book does a fairly good job of telling the story of the affair. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Big Andy
A tense & gripping story that lifts the adrenaline levels knowing it...
This review of a gold robbery sets the heart racing & the mind becomes a hive of what happened to all that property. Read more
Published 8 months ago by armstrongauthor
Gold standard
Workmanlike but generally pretty good account of the Brinks Mat robbery and the often grimly hilarious twists and turns that followed it. Read more
Published on 11 May 2010 by J. Jones
Find some trusted colleagues to look after your loot whilst you are...
I am always looking for true British crime books. Obviously I had heard of Kenneth Noye and the Brinks Mat robbery in 1983. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2008 by Peter Wade
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