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Baker Street Robbery
- European heists only got more brazen in the 20th century, and one of the most fascinating has to be the Baker Street Robbery, which occurred in September 1971. A four-man gang lifted 268 safety deposit boxes at Lloyds Bank in London, worth around $9 million today.
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The Baker Street robbery was the burglary of safety deposit boxes at the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London, on the night of 11 September 1971. A gang tunnelled 40 feet (12 m) from a rented shop two doors away to come up through the floor of the vault.
- Background
- Inspired by Sherlock Holmes
- The Gang
- The Plan Comes Together
- The Heist Begins
- Robert Rowlands Listens in
- Police Investigation
- Conspiracy Theories
From the Great Train Robbery of 1963 to the Hatton Garden safe deposit burglary of 2015, Britain has witnessed its fair share of daring heists. As for the most ingenious, the Baker Street Robbery of 1971 is right up there. During the early 1970s, Britain was facing financial hardship with unemployment on the rise and economic growth on the downturn...
Gavin masterminded a plan to break into the vault beneath a branch of Lloyds Bank at 187 Baker Street, London. The location was fitting considering that the idea for the robbery had come to Gavin after he’d read The Red-Headed League, a short story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In the story, famous detective Sherlock Holmes, who lives at 221B Baker St...
To achieve such a feat, Gavin knew he required skilled accomplices. Firstly, he needed someone who could map out the vault, experts who could help him dig the tunnel and finally, someone clever enough to disable the trembler alarms. His first recruit was Reginald Tucker, somebody unknown to the police with a clean record - the perfect man for recon...
In December 1970, Tucker posed as a well-to-do member of British society and opened an account at the Lloyds Bank under a false name, depositing £500 in the process. A couple of months later, he rented a safety deposit box at the branch and began scouting out the vault with regular visits to his new box. Tucker measured the vault with an umbrella h...
The last hurdle to overcome was the bank's trembler alarms and once again timing was everything for the gang. In late summer 1971, roadworks in the area had caused the alarms to go off falsely several times and so they were eventually turned off whilst the works continued. The gang was tipped off to this and pounced on the opportunity to put their ...
Unbeknownst to the gang, an amateur radio enthusiast in the area began picking up their walkie-talkie conversations. He tuned in at the moment the gang bust into the vault. The fumes and dust kicked up by the explosion made working conditions inside the vault unexpectedly difficult and so the gang debated over their radios what to do next. Crack on...
First thing Monday morning, bank employees discovered the vault had been breached and reported it to the police. Scotland Yard put over 100 detectives on the case and the investigation quickly led them to Benjamin Wolfe, the man whose name was on the lease to the property two doors down. Although he denied knowledge of the crime and was released af...
After the robbery, the rumour mill went into overdrive with speculation of a governmental press censorship. Theories circulated about police corruption connected to the case and people pondered what exactly the gang had found in those safety deposit boxes. One theory suggested they’d come across compromising photos of Princess Margaret, the Queen’s...
Oct 31, 2023 · On Halloween 1989, the most bizarre bank heist in city history occurred – one that remains unsolved to this day. Reporter Kelly Pedro re-examined the case in this story, which was first...
Jun 25, 2018 · A 1989 Wortley Village bank robbery is a distant, or nonexistent, memory for most Londoners. But its bizarre details – somewhat similar to the crime examined in the recent Netflix...
The Baker Street robbery was an audacious heist in 1971 which netted the criminals an estimated £3 million (equivalent to £54 million in 2023). They tunnelled into a vault below a Lloyds Bank branch from a shop two doors down the road.
The Baker Street Bank Burglary has become one of the most infamous heists in British history. This shocking robbery occurred on September 11, 1971, when a team of criminals broke into the Baker Street branch of Lloyds Bank in London.
Aug 10, 2022 · Planning for the heist began in 1970, Anthony Gavin a 38-year-old London Photographer had the idea to tunnel into the vault at the Lloyds Bank 187 Baker Street. Based on the Arthur Conan Doyle tale.
