‘The Krays were animals but they had a charming side – the life of a bank robber in the 70s was like being a celebrity. I hung out with people like George Best and Morecambe and Wise’ Gangster The Big Cheese tells The Mirror about Britain’s biggest ever bank job
It began as an ordinary Wednesday morning in May 1990, when bank courier John Goddard, as usual made his way around the City of London, carrying his briefcase.
But on this particular day he was held up at knifepoint and his case, carrying 301 City bonds worth £292m – a staggering £850m in today’s money – was stolen in a true daylight robbery.
The 58-year-old bank employee was forced to hand over the bearer bonds – fancy IOUs including certificates of deposit and HM Treasury bills. And despite a huge City of London Police investigation, the trail of the mugger very quickly went cold.
Britain’s biggest ever heist, dubbed “the biggest heist you have never heard of,” is now the subject of a Crime+Investigation documentary series. Presented by Marcel Theroux, it premiers on Monday (3 November).
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The series reveals the sophisticated criminal plot behind the heist, which involved the New York mafia, the IRA and Colombian drug barons. But, to this day, no-one knows who masterminded the plan.Low level drug dealer Patrick Thomas, who allegedly carried out the original theft, was shot dead because people believe he knew too much.
The only man convicted was Keith Cheeseman, who was jailed for six-and-a-half years for conspiracy to launder the bonds. Police claim they recovered all but two of the 301 bonds but, speaking exclusively to The Mirror, Keith says the actual value of the bonds stolen was much higher, around £427 million. This suggests an additional £135 million was never officially reported or recovered by authorities.
Cheeseman, now 83 and living on the Turkish Riviera, says: “The first I heard about the bond robbery was when it happened. I knew something was going to happen, but I didn’t know what. “I was called to a meeting to see if we could move the bonds – I’m just an adjuster – but I reckon it was planned from the inside.”
Known as ‘The Big Cheese,’ he was something of a celebrity gangster, who mixed with everyone from the US mafia and Pablo Escobar to George Best and Morecambe and Wise He claims his nickname was given to him by Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. Originally from Luton in Befordshire, Cheeseman was part of a network of criminals, according to the documentary, which included gangster Raymond Ketteridge and Texan businessman Mark Osborne – both now dead. They each delivered 10 bonds each worth £1m to mafia figure Tony Dipiono in a New York bar.
The plan unravelled when they discovered Dipiono was actually an undercover FBI agent. Subsequently, Osbourne exposed his associates, but only Cheeseman was convicted. Drawn to the case by the many unanswered questions, journalist Marcel Theroux says: “This is an astonishing robbery. £292 million was stolen in a matter of seconds. It was amazing to me that I hadn’t heard about it before, because it took place in the London of my early 20s, in the London where I was starting out as a journalist”
Even Cheeseman says he cannot provide any answers. “I spent years researching the very same thing for my book How to Rob the Bank of England,” he says. “I wanted to find out how these people became involved – the IRA, Pablo Escobar. I also wanted to know what happened to the money, so I could get a whack of it.”
Cheeseman claims he fell into a life of crime after his successful building business went bust and lived “like a footballer” on the proceeds. “I hated the banks after they ruined a very successful building company that I was in control of,” he says. “That was 1970 or 1971 – they reneged on my overdraft – took it off me overnight. I had £7m worth of building going on and because we were a new company, they were retaining lots of money from us. So I started screwing them basically.”
Cheeseman is just one of the colourful characters encountered by Marcel Theroux during filming. He describes those involved as a “rogue’s gallery of criminals, gamblers, conmen and mafioso.” Revelling in, rather than regretting his life of crime, Cheeseman continues:“In the early 70s I drove a Lamborghini, a Rolls Royce, life wasn’t that bad. I had a penthouse in the Barbican, life was good. I would say that crime pays – the only regret I have is that I can’t find this extra money.”
Marvin Herbert
Former armed robber Marvin Herbert recalls the bond haul, saying: “I remember it being offered about. “The word on the street was that the culprit was Pat Thomas, who is now dead. He was a real slick ladies’ man.” And he is certain that Thomas was the culprit, saying: “A million percent. Million percent.”
But he does not think he knew how much money he was stealing, adding: “I don’t believe he would have been told. I don’t think anyone will come forward and talk. They are of an older generation who keep their mouth shut. It’s like getting blood out of a stone.”
Jimmy Tippett
South London gangster Jimmy Tippett was a teenager at the time of the heist. He says:”I was arrested for the bearer bonds robbery. I was 19 years old driving a brand new Mercedes Cosworth, I had no form of income, I wore a gold watch. I was going to the top nightclubs in London, always VIP, and I was mixing with like the top, top names in south London. There were a lot of reasons to probably speculate that I could have been involved with that, but I wasn’t involved with the robbery.”
On remand for six months, before all charges were dropped, he also believes Thomas was responsible and recalls seeing him after the heist. He says: “I remember the day when Pat had done that job – he came in like a big Cheshire cat. He had a Safeway carrier bag with a folder of what looked like swimming certificates that were actually bearer bonds and he told us all he had to do was meet someone who handed them over and he got paid £200k.
“I’ve always believed this work came from a guy who hung himself in 1999 – a guy called Eugene Carter. “Eugene Carter ran the drugs scene in south London and would always go out with a hundred grand watch on so we’d call him Eugene Cartier. He was flasher than a rat with a gold tooth.”
Ray Ketteridge Jnr
According to Cheeseman, Ray Ketteridge was there when the bonds were counted. Marcel Theroux speaks to his son, Ray Ketteridge Junior, who says: “I knew quite a bit, but not everything. He was a character. He came from a very poor background in Hackney, he was a barrow boy, and started off selling secondhand shoes. If he could see a pound note in something, he was a trier, because he had a very, very clever mind. He’d never switch off.
“He was just out there doing the best for his family. He bought us a pet lion one day. It eventually got that big that we couldn’t look after it, so we gave it to Southend Zoo and it stayed there for the remainder of its life. Friends called him Mile Away Ray because if anything was stolen he would never be on the scene.
“When my dad was arrested (for the bond heist) the only person that knew where my dad was going to be was the police informant, and my dad knew straight away who it was then, and that’s what my dad tried to expose who he was. So they pushed it under the carpet and that’s why he walked away from it.”
Heist: Robbing the Bank of England is set to premiere on Monday, 3rd November, on Crime+Investigation.