3 charged over UK heist
2006-03-02 08:31
London - British police charged three people on Wednesday in connection with a £53m ($93.06m) raid on a security depot in southern England, the biggest cash robbery in British history.
The two men and a woman were the first to be charged concerning last week's heist in which Britain's central bank, the Bank of England, lost £25m of its banknotes.
Police said that a gang posing as police officers seized the depot's manager took his wife and young son hostage and threatened to harm them unless he helped them get inside the compound.
The robbery eclipsed the theft in 2004 of £26.5m from a bank in Northern Ireland that was widely blamed on Irish Republican Army guerrillas.
Overnight mail train
It also surpassed Britain's most famous cash raid: the Great Train Robbery of 1963 after a gang stole £2.6m from an overnight mail train.
The money would be worth as much as £40m today. Police in the southeast county of Kent said the probe could last for years.
Assistant chief constable Adrian Leppard said: "This investigation is likely to continue for many months and possibly years as we track down those responsible and indeed all of the stolen money."
Police refused to comment on reports that a substantial amount of money had been found buried on a farm in Kent. According to reports, detectives found the cash on land surrounding the isolated farm.
Police said car salesmen John Fowler, 57, and Stuart Royle, 39, were charged with conspiracy to rob the depot.
Fowler was also charged with kidnapping the depot's manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn and their son Craig.
Kim Shackleton, 39, self-employed, was charged with handling stolen goods. They were due to appear in court on Thursday.