Viewers have been loving The Gold following the release of its first episode on Sunday, February 12. The new six-part BBC series tells the story of the Brink’s-Mat robbery, which took place in 1983.
The robbery saw six armed men break into a security depot near London’s Heathrow Airport. It was there that the men would stumble across £26 million worth of gold bullion. The majority of said gold has yet to be recovered. John Palmer was allegedly responsible for melting it down. Read more about that here.
One of the men involved in the crime was Kenneth Noye, who’s played by Scottish actor Jack Lowden in the series. Whilst being investigated for his involvement in the Brink’s-Mat robbery, Noye fatally stabbed Detective Constable John Fordham who was involved in the police surveillance of him in the grounds of his home. But what happened to the man that would later become known by tabloids as the ‘M25 killer’? Here’s everything that you need to know.
Read more: BBC The Gold: The true story behind the new real-life drama starring Hugh Bonneville
What happened to Kenneth Noye?
Following his involvement in the Brink’s-Mat robbery, Noye was sentenced to 14 years in jail. He was acquitted of policeman John Fordham’s murder on the grounds of self-defence. Noye would serve eight years behind bars and leave prison in 1994.
This, however, would not be his only run-in with the law and two years later, he stabbed 21-year-old Stephen Cameron on a slip road off the M25 during a road rage incident. He subsequently fled to Spain and was located by police two years later in August, 1998, following a manhunt. He was arrested that month and extradited to the UK in May, 1999.
In 2000, Noye was given a life sentence for his crimes. Following multiple failed appeals against his conviction over the years, he was eventually moved to a low security prison in 2018 and was released in June, 2019, having served 20 years.
The Ministry of Justice said at the time: "Like all life sentence prisoners released by the independent Parole Board, Kenneth Noye will be on licence for the remainder of his life, subject to strict conditions and faces a return to prison should he fail to comply."
The Gold continues at 9pm this Sunday, February 19, on BBC One. Alternatively, the whole series is now available to watch on BBC iPlayer. For more showbiz and television stories, get our newsletter here.
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