Brink’s-Mat robber Mick ‘The Nutter’ McAvoy dead at 71 – and underworld figures all have a grisly theory about his death
BRINK’S-MAT robber Micky McAvoy has died aged 71 – taking the secrets of the 1983 heist’s bloody fallout with him to the grave.
The feared crook, referred to as “The Nutter” by his own accomplices in the £26million gold raid, was one of Britain’s most prolific and violent armed robbers.
McAvoy played a major role in the record theft and should have been set up for life — but his share of the gold was swiped while he was in prison.
Police strongly suspected he then ordered the contract murder of the man entrusted to look after his loot.
McAvoy had suffered from cancer for some time and died on New Year’s Eve at his flat where he lived alone in the Bromley area of South East London.
Unconfirmed underworld reports suggest he took his own life in a fit of depression following the death of his beloved wife Kathy six months ago.
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He is said to have been struggling financially after devoting himself to caring for her.
McAvoy’s death comes as a star-studded six-part drama on the robbery is due to be broadcast on BBC1 this year.
One associate said: “He was very depressed after the death of Kathy, who he nursed every day while she was ill with cancer.
“He also had cancer himself and had never recovered from the death of his daughter around ten years ago.
“He was hard-up because he’d been unable to work.
“He spent hours every day at the cemetery mourning for Kathy.
“It seems to have become too much for him to bear.”
Boxer Tyson Fury’s uncle Peter, a close friend of McAvoy, paid tribute on Instagram with emojis of a heart and hands in prayer.
He wrote: “My true friend gave up his battle last night to be with his loving wife Kathy.
“Your (sic) together now, love you both beyond life, until we walk together again. Micky McAvoy RIP.”
McAvoy was 30 and the youngest of a seasoned gang of six robbers who carried out the “crime of the century” at the Heathrow Brink’s-Mat security depot on November 26, 1983.
He lived with first wife Jacqueline and their three children in Herne Hill, South London, but was having a relationship with the “love of his life” Kathy Leacock.
He claimed to be a painter and decorator but in reality was on a Scotland Yard index of the 20 most elite armed robbers in London.
So too were career criminals and fellow Brink’s-Mat bandits Tony White and Brian “The Colonel” Robinson — who died aged 78 last February.
Three years before the Heathrow raid, McAvoy got away with £811,000 in cash after ramming a mobile crane into a Brink’s-Mat van in London.
He had been given photos of the inside of the security firm’s vans by a bent guard, Tony Black, brother of Robinson’s common-law wife.
McAvoy, Robinson and White were also suspected by the Flying Squad of other major London heists.
Former Scotland Yard commander Roy Ramm said last night: “McAvoy was one of the most violent and prolific robbers of his generation.
“He was feared among his peers and had been a top target of Scotland Yard for years.
“When he was eventually imprisoned for Brink’s-Mat there was a sense of a job well done and relief.
“He will no doubt be missed by his family and friends but beyond that there is not much to say in his favour.
“The flag will not be flying at half mast at Scotland Yard.”
The seeds for McAvoy’s most notorious criminal success and eventual downfall were sown when bent security guard Black was posted to the Brink’s-Mat warehouse, which handled valuable consignments being transported overseas from nearby Heathrow.
The gang struck at just after 6.30am after Black had told them high-value parcels were likely to be on the premises.
Black let them into the depot as five guards were preparing to deliver 6,800 gold ingots for a flight to the Far East.
McAvoy then emerged from a doorway brandishing a 9mm Browning pistol and snarled at the guards: “Get on the floor or you’re f***ing dead!”
He hit guard Peter Bentley over the head with the gun, then hooded him and colleague Robin Risley with tape, doused them in petrol and threatened to torch them.
The gang’s attention was then drawn to a pile of grey boxes on the floor — each full of gold ingots.
It took two hours to load a Ford Transit and a car with the gold, and the van later broke down under the weight on its way back to South East London.
Flying Squad detectives soon realised Black’s link to Robinson and the guard cracked under questioning.
Both bowed to the judge and said: “Thank you, sir.”
Accomplice Tony White, who remained close to McAvoy, was cleared of the armed robbery.
He and a villain nicknamed “Ankles” are the only known survivors of the gang.
McAvoy was one of the most violent and prolific robbers of his generation. He will no doubt be missed by his family but the flag will not be flying at half-mast at Scotland Yard.
Ex Commander Roy Ramm
The robbery unleashed a chain of violence and betrayal.
McAvoy and Robinson tried to hand back their share of the gold for a reduction in sentences but were thwarted by those in control of the loot.
Former Yard commander Ramm, who met McAvoy and Robinson several times in prison, as well as Perry and White, said it was obvious that McAvoy and Robinson were not in control of the gold, adding: “There is no doubt it led to bloodshed.”
Perry was convicted of handling the stolen bullion in 1992 and jailed for nine years.
When cops raided his office they found a sign above his desk saying: “Remember the Golden Rule. Whoever has the gold makes the rules.”
Perry claimed he no longer had the proceeds, having lost it through poor property investments, but McAvoy was angered after learning that Perry had bought a large home.
Perry’s trial heard that his life was in danger.
An intercepted letter from McAvoy to White from jail was read out in which the robber warned: “I won’t have anyone else keeping my share for their own needs.
"He will sign his own death warrant to go through with it. I have no intention of being fed for my money.”
Perry is also believed to have had a relationship with McAvoy’s former wife Jacqueline.
She and McAvoy had divorced by then and he married girlfriend Kathy behind bars in 1987.
Following the robbery, both women had homes bought for them less than a mile from each other through an offshore bank account and were later charged with handling Brink’s-Mat money.
According to legend, Kathy’s two Rottweilers at her home were named Brinks and Mat.
Kathy had her home confiscated after being convicted of handling stolen robbery proceeds and she was given an 18-month suspended sentence.
Insurers also obtained court orders in 1995 for the seizure of almost £26million from McAvoy, White and Robinson, which was never settled.
Police suspected McAvoy was still involved in crime behind bars and an informant said he was behind a drug-smuggling plot.
McAvoy denied the allegations and tried to sue the Home Office for keeping him in high security, claiming he was a model prisoner.
He was eventually released in 2000 and the following year Perry, by then also free, was shot three times in the head outside his minicab offices in Bermondsey.
McAvoy was suspected of having ordered the contract hit, which was said to have been carried out by a notorious killer who was free at the time and is now serving a life sentence for another murder.
Detectives questioned McAvoy about Perry’s murder but the case remains unsolved.
From then on McAvoy and former pub worker Kathy divided their time between Spain, where he had a property in Marbella, and their three-bedroom house near Orpington, South East London.
McAvoy kept a low profile and never publicly discussed his role in the Brink’s-Mat raid.
But he was still suspected by police of being actively involved in financing middle-level drug-smuggling runs until two years ago.
He and Kathy moved back to the UK permanently after they had both been diagnosed with cancer.
She died aged 76 in June last year.
An associate said: “Micky was by her side every day and it took its toll on him.
“He was unable to make any money and things were tight.
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“She was the love of his life and when she died he fell apart.
“It seems as if he felt he could no longer carry on.”
BIG RAID TO GET THE TV TREATMENT
THE Brink’s-Mat robbery and its bloody legacy is the subject of a major six-part BBC1 drama being broadcast this year.
Hugh Bonneville, Jack Lowden and Dominic Cooper will star in The Gold, which was filmed last year.
The series will feature in detail how the six masked bandits carried out the raid armed with guns and coshes.
It will then follow the chain of violence spawned by the robbery and focus on the fatal stabbing of undercover cop Detective Constable John Fordham by gang member Kenneth Noye.
Filming took place at Noye’s former home, 20-acre Hollywood Cottage in West Kingsdown, Kent, where father-of-three Fordham was pinned down and stabbed ten times.
Noye and Hatton Garden bandit Brian Reader were both acquitted of the officer’s murder through self-defence but convicted of handling 11 gold bars found at the address, the only bullion from the raid ever recovered.
In 1996, following his release from a 14-year sentence, Noye stabbed 21-year-old Stephen Cameron to death in a road rage incident and served more than 20 years for the murder.
It is understood that some of those directly involved in the Brink’s-Mat robbery and its aftermath have acted as advisers to the programme makers.
A younger Noye will be played by Jack Lowden, while DC Fordham will be played by Hadley Fraser.
The cast also includes Charlotte Spencer from The Duke, Tom Cullen from Black Mirror, Guilt actor Emun Elliott and Sean Harris from Southcliffe and Mission: Impossible.
But BBC bosses have remained tight-lipped about who will play the robbers.