The early intake of ecstasy into Britain came directly through Brink's-Mat money that was made from the job and then ploughed back into ecstasy, which was a brand-new drug. After fleeing the scene, the robbers turned to Kenneth Noye, one of Britain’s most notorious criminals, for help in turning the bullion into cash. A bully while a pupil at Bexleyheath Boys' Secondary Modern School, he ran a protection racket with his fellow pupils.

The heist – and its aftermath: smelting, laundering, and murder – are the subject of the BBC’s new six-part drama, The Gold, which is available now on iPlayer. After he retired, Mr Boyce became involved in seeking justice for the Stephen Lawrence family after Stephen was murdered. The BBC’s new six-part Sunday-night drama The Gold tells the story of one of the most extraordinary British crimes of the last few decades – the 1983 Brink’s-Mat armed robbery.Noye was arrested for murder but convinced the jury he acted in self-defence, and he was acquitted by a majority decision. Police estimate much of the gold would have been sold on to legitimate dealers, with the money that was subsequently made then laundered through companies around the world in locations including the Bahamas, the Channel Islands, Spain and Florida. Although Noye was questioned by the police, they concluded that the unsolved murder had no proven connection with Noye and did not charge him. Original robber Mickey McAvoy told Neil Forsyth and Thomas Turner as much in an interview for their book, The Gold: The Real Story behind Brink’s-Mat. The series stars Hugh Bonneville as Brian Boyce, the detective chief inspector on the case, and the cast also includes Jack Lowden, Adam Nagaitis, Tom Cullen and Dominic Cooper as the men involved in the infamous crime.

The parole board considered risks associated with his release due to "his readiness to carry and use weapons" and because Noye was "not being able to resolve arguments reasonably at key moments" as he "did not always control extreme emotions well”.

Noye had joined the Freemasons Hammersmith Lodge in the hope of forging influential links that might prove useful during his criminal activities as a fence for stolen property. Clarkson’s book details how Noye tried to win over Brink’s-Mat investigators by giving him a secret Freemason handshake. However, it eventually revealed links to organised crime and corrupt police officers, leading to several high-profile convictions. His killer was John O’Flynn, a former associate of the Kray twins, also believed to be involved in laundering the Brink’s-Mat gold.

What isn’t shown is Noye and Reader standing over the dying Fordham with a shotgun, kicking him (as was claimed by Fordham’s partner) or Noye mysteriously retreating back to the house and reappearing when other officers arrived in the scene. According to Wensley Clarkson’s book, The Curse of Brink’s-Mat, the fact that Kenneth Noye came from Bexleyheath (considered more Kent than London by fellow villains), rather than being a south east Londoner who moved to Kent, was a strike against him. For selling stolen bicycles after he had altered their appearance, and other crimes, he spent a year in a borstal.He said: “A lot of people will remember the robbery, but I don’t think many people know what came next. In the show, Noye – a self-made builder, smuggler, and fence – takes over the operation of hiding and smelting the gold and turning it into cash. Through a combination of trickery, guile and violence he was able to make off with Charles II's crown and some of the most important treasures in the kingdom. He was later imprisoned for helping to launder some of the cash, but before he was sent behind bars he knifed an undercover detective, who was sniffing around his home, to death.