Noiser
The Brink’s-Mat Robbery
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This episode will be available to listen to for free on 6th July 2026. You can listen to it right away by subscribing to Noiser+. Head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions for more information.
The Brink’s-Mat robbery was one of the largest thefts in British history. The discovery of the record-breaking haul in a west London warehouse in 1983 set off a chain of events that would echo through Britain’s criminal underworld for decades. It helped shape the property boom of the 1980s, the drugs trade of the 1990s and left an enduring mark on UK crime and policing.
But who were the men behind the so-called robbery of the century? Why did the tentacles of the theft reach so far? And what is the “curse of Brink’s-Mat”?
This is a Short History Of the Brink’s-Mat Robbery.
A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Wensley Clarkson, author of The Curse of Brink’s-Mat: 25 years of Murder and Mayhem.
Written by Nicola Rayner | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Pascal Wyse | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman