Brink's-Mat thief Micky McAvoy has died aged 71 just months after his wife passed away fromCancer.
McAvoy, nicknamed 'The Nutter', was part of the criminal gang that stole £26 million worth of gold bullion, diamonds and cash in the 'crime of the century' after breaking into the warehouse inHeathrowAirport in 1983.
The career criminal, known as one of the country's most prolific and violent armed robbers, played a major role in one of the biggest bullion heists in British history.
McAvoy suffered from cancer and died on New Year's Eve at his flat in Bromley, south east London, where he lived alone.the sunreports.
Brink's-Mat thief Micky McAvoy has died aged 71, just months after his wife passed away from cancer. He is pictured above in the summer of 2000 after his release from prison.
MickyMcAvoy, nicknamed 'The Nutter', was part of the criminal gang that stole £26m worth of gold bullion, diamonds and cash in the 'crime of the century' after robbing the depot at Heathrow Airport in 1983.
Police had long suspected that McAvoy was still active in criminal circles during his time in prison, and an informant suggested that he was involved in a drug smuggling ring.
In his final days, McAvoy reportedly struggled financially after caring for his ailing wife, Kathy, who died of cancer just six months ago.
The couple married in prison in 1987, three years after McAvoy was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for his role in the Brink's-Mat robbery.
At the time of his most lucrative crime, McAvoy was just 30 years old and the youngest of the gang of six thieves who masterminded the Brink-Mat robbery on November 26, 1983.
McAvoy used his career as a painter and decorator as a front, but he was known to Scotland Yard and was even part of their 20-person database of London's most prolific armed robbers.
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Just three years before the Heathrow robbery, McAvoy was involved in another major robbery after making off with over £811,000 in cash after crashing a crane into a Brink's-Mat van in London.
He, along with his criminal accomplices, was suspected of several other high-profile crimes in the capital during its heyday.
McAvoy used his career as a painter and decorator as a front, but he was known to Scotland Yard and was even part of their 20-person database of London's most prolific armed robbers.
Former Scotland Yard boss Roy Ramm told the Sun: '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 for Scotland Yard for years.
"When he was finally arrested at Brink's-Mat, there was a sense of relief and a job well done."
Tributes to the career criminal surfaced on social media, including a heartfelt post from Tyson Fury's uncle, who posted on Instagram: "My true friend gave up his battle last night to be with his loving wife Kathy."
'Your [sic] together now, I love you beyond life, until we walk together again. Rest in peace to Micky McAvoy.
During the Brink's-Mat robbery, Brian 'The Colonel' Robinson joined his brother-in-law Anthony Black and his partner Michael McAvoy and three others as they broke into the depot at Heathrow Airport.
The gang made international headlines after stealing 6,800 gold bars, diamonds and cash that would be worth over £100 million today.
The property belonged to the security company Brink's Mat and the thieves were there because they knew there was £3 million in cash hidden inside the vault.
The security guard, Anthony Black, had already warned about the money and even opened the warehouse door to let the criminals in.
The gang tied up the guards and doused them with gasoline, threatening to set them on fire if they didn't comply.
Over the years, with less than half of Brink's-Mat's gold recovered, an extraordinary number of McAvoy's associates in crime have been murdered or disappeared.
It is estimated that over 20 people with some sort of connection to the theft were murdered as the British criminal underworld turned against itself in a desperate attempt to find the gold, most of which was never found. photo: crime scene at heathrow airport in 1983
It is estimated that over 20 people with some sort of connection to the robbery died as the British criminal underworld turned against itself in a desperate attempt to find the gold, most of which was never found.
McAvoy's share of the £26 million loot was later stolen while he was in jail, with police suspecting that he had ordered the contract killing of the man tasked with protecting his loot.
His death is being produced as a six-part BBC drama about the Brink's-Mat robbery, to be broadcast later this year.
The Gold will follow the decades-long chain of events that followed what has been described as "the crime of the century" and will be broadcast in six episodes on BBC One and Paramount+ globally.
The Brink's Math Heist: How Thieves Accomplished the 'Crime of the Century'
Shortly after 6:40 am. On 26 November 1983, six armed men wearing balaclavas, one wearing a fedora, entered a warehouse at Heathrow Airport.
The property belonged to the security company Brink's Mat and the thieves were there because they knew there was £3 million in cash in the safe. They knew because their mole, security guard Anthony Black, had told them. He even opened the warehouse door to let them in.
Led by Black's brother-in-law Brian Robinson and Michael 'Micky' McAvoy, wearing a Trilby hat, the gang tied up the guards and doused them with gasoline, threatening to set it on fire if they didn't comply.
Thanks to Black, they were able to identify the two senior guards who, between them, had the keys and combination numbers to the vault where three safes were located.
Inside were more than three tons of gold bars. Packed in over 70 cardboard boxes were nearly 7,000 gold bars. Someone had to go get the van.
Loaded with loads of gold, the van left Heathrow after one of the thieves wished the security guards a Merry Christmas.
It didn't take the police long to link Black to the operation and soon implicate Robinson and McAvoy (who beat up Black when he went to identify him in a police lineup).
Shortly after 6:40 am. On 26 November 1983, six armed men wearing balaclavas, one wearing a fedora, entered a warehouse at Heathrow Airport.
The couple didn't exactly go unnoticed after the theft, splashing cash on a property in Kent. McAvoy was said to have bought two Rottweilers to protect his new home and named them Brinks and Mat.
The two were later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Black was sentenced to six years. Stealing the gold had been relatively easy. The biggest challenge was selling it.
The thieves turned to crime boss Kenneth Noye, who, along with another criminal, Brian Reader, handled the gold. It was regularly taken to a foundry near Bristol, where it was mixed with copper and brass to look like old gold.
Around £13 million was made available in this way. Money moving through a local bank soon aroused the suspicion of the Bank of England and surveillance operations of known rogues began.
Noye appeared in court in 1986 after police found 11 gold bars worth £100,000 on his premises. He was found guilty of tampering with Brink's Mat gold and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
He is serving a prison sentence for the 1996 murder of 21-year-old Stephen Cameron on the M25 in Kent.
Only two members of the gang who entered the warehouse were convicted of the crime, but the repercussions were greater.
It is estimated that over 20 people with some sort of connection to the theft were killed as the British criminal underworld turned on itself.
Meanwhile, Reader, Noye's former right-hand man, was the ringleader behind the attack on the £14 million Hatton Garden jewels. He was sentenced to six years and three months in prison last month.