Editing Brink's-Mat robbery (section)

==Arrests==
Two days after the robbery, a couple saw a white-hot [[crucible]] operating in a garden hut at a neighbour's property near [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], [[Somerset]]. Suspecting it to be linked to the bullion robbery, they immediately informed the police. The police arrived and were shown the hut, but they said it was just beyond their jurisdiction and stated that they would pass the information on to the police responsible for that area. The couple were never asked to give a statement to police nor give evidence in court. No explanation has been given for the police's failure to follow up immediately on the tip-off.<ref name="Police 'ignored Brink's-Mat tip' two days after raid">{{Cite news |last=Kelsey |first=Tim |date=2 April 1995 |title=Police 'ignored Brink's-Mat tip' two days after raid |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-ignored-brinksmat-tip-two-days-after-raid-1613851.html |url-status=live |access-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925163701/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-ignored-brinksmat-tip-two-days-after-raid-1613851.html |archive-date=25 September 2015}}</ref>

Police soon identified that Black's sister was living with Brian Robinson, who appeared in [[Flying Squad]] intelligence files.<ref name=flaw>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=4 December 1984|page=2|title=Fatal flaw for £26 million raiders|last=Tendler|first=Stewart}}</ref> Black confessed in December 1983 to aiding and abetting the raiders, providing them with impressions of the key to the main door, and giving them details of security measures and became an informer.<ref name=84trial>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=30 October 1984|page=3|title=Gang threatened to burn bullion guards to get vault numbers, jury told}}</ref><ref name=trail>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=8 July 1988|page=11|title=Brink's-Mat: the bullion trail}}</ref> He identified his brother-in-law, Brian Robinson, as one of the robbers.<ref name="Whatever happened to Brinks-Mat?">{{Cite news |last=Sam Coates |date=23 November 1996 |title=Whatever happened to Brinks-Mat? |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/whatever-happened-to-brinksmat-1353688.html |url-status=live |access-date=22 September 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121104113345/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/whatever-happened-to-brinksmat-1353688.html |archive-date=4 November 2012}}</ref> Ten days after the robbery, Robinson and Micky McAvoy were arrested.<ref name="news.bbc/3405273"/> Anthony Black was also arrested for the robbery but was later acquitted.<ref name=trail/>

In January 1985, the premises in Bath were raided and the furnace was found but the occupier, [[John Palmer (criminal)|John Palmer]], a [[jeweller]] and bullion dealer, was on holiday in [[Tenerife]].<ref name=cleared/> His former partners Garth Chappell and Terrence Patch were arrested. The sudden movement of £13 million through [[Bristol]] area branches of [[Barclays Bank]] allegedly came to the notice of the [[Bank of England]], which informed the police although the Bank of England denied this.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=25 March 1987|page=2|title=Denial by bank after raid claim|last=Thomson|first=Richard}}</ref>

McAvoy had entrusted part of his share to associates Brian Perry and George Francis. Perry recruited [[Kenneth Noye]], who was an expert in his field,<ref name="bbc1" /> to dispose of the gold. Noye melted down the bullion and recast it for sale, mixing in copper coins to disguise the source.<ref name="bbc1" />

Noye was placed under police [[surveillance]]. In January 1985, he encountered undercover [[Detective Constable]] John Fordham, dressed in camouflage and a balaclava, in the grounds of his home and stabbed him 10 times, resulting in the detective's death.<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 April 2000 |title="I killed policeman in self-defence," Noye tells jury |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/07/6 |url-status=live |access-date=26 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161127090248/https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/07/6 |archive-date=27 November 2016}}</ref><ref name=sums>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=7 December 1985|page=3|title=Judge sums up on killing of detective}}</ref> Noye claimed that he had been attacked and killed Fordham in self-defence and at the resulting trial, the jury found him not guilty of murder.<ref name=sums/><ref>{{cite web|access-date=2022-10-23|title=Detective was first stabbing victim|url=http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/apr/15/nickhopkins2|date=15 April 2000|website=The Guardian}}</ref> [[Brian Reader (old-school villain)|Brian Reader]] was also at the property at the time and put on trial for murder but was acquitted.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=23 November 1985|page=3|last=Tendler|first=Stewart|title=Police in gold case 'surprised by dogs'}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=20 March 1986|page=5|title=Man acquitted of killing jailed}}</ref>

In 1986, seven men, including Noye, Reader, Chappell and Patch, were put on trial for handling the stolen gold, with Noye accused of masterminding and controlling the operation to launder the robbery proceeds.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=10 June 1986|page=3|title=Gold plot is denied by builder}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=18 July 1986|page=2|title=Bullion jury sent to hotel|last=Horsnell|first=Michael}}</ref><ref name=cleared/>

Palmer was deported to Britain from Brazil in 1986 and was put on trial in 1987. In court, Palmer said he was unaware the gold was linked to the robbery and he was cleared of all charges.<ref name="Police 'ignored Brink's-Mat tip' two days after raid">{{Cite news |last=Kelsey |first=Tim |date=2 April 1995 |title=Police 'ignored Brink's-Mat tip' two days after raid |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-ignored-brinksmat-tip-two-days-after-raid-1613851.html |url-status=live |access-date=18 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925163701/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-ignored-brinksmat-tip-two-days-after-raid-1613851.html |archive-date=25 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=2 April 1987|page=1|last=Tendler|first=Stewart|title=Jeweller freed in Brink's Mat case}}</ref><ref name=cleared/>

Another suspect, John Fleming, was held in Miami in 1986 after being deported from Costa Rica where he had arrived following an earlier ejection from Spain. He was subsequently deported from the US to the UK in 1987 and charged with handling £840,000.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=27 March 1987|page=18|last=McCarthy|first=Michael|title=Fleming returns to face the Yard}}</ref> Despite the three-year attempt to question him, his case was thrown out of court after just 25 seconds due to insufficient evidence.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=26 June 1987|page=1|last=Sapstead|first=David|title=Court frees Fleming over Brink's Mat charge}}</ref>

In 1988, nine people, including Perry, solicitor Michael Relton and McAvoy's wife Kathleen, were arrested and put on trial for conspiracy to handle stolen goods.<ref name="apnews/1988-07-08"/> Relton was accused of bringing £7.5 million smuggled to Switzerland and Liechtenstein back to the UK to invest in London's property boom in the [[London Docklands|Docklands]].<ref name="apnews/1988-07-08"/><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=23 July 1987|last=Tendler|first=Stewart|page=3|title=Dockland empire 'was created from Brink's Mat gold'}}</ref> A tenth person, property developer Gordon Parry, was also considered a co-conspirator but initially escaped arrest.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=23 July 1987|page=2|title=Gold plot charge}}</ref> The jury failed to reach a verdict for Perry who faced a retrial.<ref name=trail/><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=8 July 1988|page=1|title=Solicitor jailed in Brink's-Mat case|last=Horsnell|first=Michael}}</ref>

Parry was arrested in [[Fuengirola]], Spain, in 1989 and returned to the UK a year later and charged with handling over £16 million.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=10 April 1989|page=2|title=Extradition hearing}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=7 April 1990|page=4|title=Parry to face bullion charges}}</ref> He went on trial with, among others, Perry, McAvoy's first wife Jacqueline, Patrick Clark, and Jean Savage in 1991. Perry was accused of laundering £7.5 million, Clark and his son £4.5 million and Savage £2.5 million. McAvoy's former wife was alleged to have benefitted from a house her ex-husband bought her.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=2 July 1991|page=3|title='Fountains of cash' after raid|last=Young|first=John}}</ref> The jury failed to reach a verdict for McAvoy but her house was seized.<ref name="pounds 27m MAN FREED; Life"/>