Notes

16:18
You will hear part of the talk about a bank robbery that was discovered by Robert Rowland's in London in 1971. On September the 1st 1971 at around 1 a.m. Robert Rowland's was at home in wimpole Street London Tuning In His Radio to the popular station radio, Luxembourg. However, radio Luxembourg didn't come through his speakers what did provided both him and the police with something extremely surprising Roland's had unexpectedly picked up radio conversations about a bank robbery in progress. Grass, but which bank and where once Roland's realized what he discovered he called the police the officer he spoke to thought he was joking and politely suggested that have rollers heard any more suspicious talk. He should record it. So Rowlands did just as the policeman asked when he called a second time. He insisted that it was a major robbery. This time detectives visited his home to listen to the tape. And what they heard caused a major search operation. It was clear. The robbery was still in progress and if they moved quickly enough the police stood a good chance of finding the bank and catching the robbers. The thieves had targeted a branch of Lloyds Bank intending to break into it and take away as much as possible in the time available. Well, the theory may have been simple, but the practice wasn't just to reach the bank.

The robbers had to rent a nearby shop break through the shops floor to a depth of almost 2 meters deep several meters under a fast food restaurant, then dig back up break through the thick floor of the bank steal what they could and then escaped back the way they'd come all this had to be done without setting off any of the bank's security devices or attracting any public attention while digging the tunnel.

Murray was simply unheard of in the UK in 1971. The police estimated that it took the gang almost three months to carry out their plan. It required great technical skill what makes it unusual is that the robbers themselves were not high-level expert criminals the Baker Street robbery involved four main individuals all the men were known to the police. But none had a reputation for something as complex as this police suspected, but we're never able to prove that. The crime was actually organized by another London criminal whose identity was never discovered. The robbers had someone acting as a lookout and they stayed in contact via walkie talkies handheld two-way radios these devices operated on public frequencies, which wasn't very secure as any

Could listen in The chances of it happening were fairly small though while interest in these radios was growing they were still illegal to use in 1971. Roland's explain to the police that the range of walkie-talkies was quite short. So the rubbers couldn't be more than three or four kilometers from his home in wimpole Street Baker Street is indeed within three kilometers of wimpole street. If it had been acted on Rowland's information would certainly have made it far more likely that the gang would have been caught during the robbery, but it wasn't acted on the police decided to

Gate, approximately 750 banks in the area around Rowland's home. But it wasn't until the Monday morning that the Baker Street bank manager entered the bank and found a man sized hole in the middle of the floor. The police were made to feel very embarrassed. One small detail help to solve the case. Desmond Wolfe are minor criminal had rented the shop. The gang used as a base under his own name. Once the police had him. They looked for wolves known criminal contacts, especially those with records for burglaries who weren't already in prison soon Anthony Gavin Thomas Stevens and Reginald Tucker were under arrest and being questioned in

During 1973 all four men were Found guilty of stealing items worth more than 3 million pounds at today's prices wolf only got a sentence of eight years due to his age while the younger Gavin Stevens and Tucker got 12 years each not a single item of stolen property from the Baker Street. Robbery has ever been found. Now listen again

On September the 1st 1970