A young thief managed to get away with Goddard’s briefcase, which was laden with 301 bearer bonds, marking the start of an audacious heist.
Bearer bonds are essentially pieces of paper issued by corporations or governments, each representing a certain monetary value. These unregistered bonds can be exchanged or sold by whoever has them in their possession, making them highly coveted items in the world of finance.
The bonds snatched during this mugging were valued at an astonishing £292 million, equivalent to about $1.4 billion in today’s economy. While the incident might have seemed like a chance mugging at first glance, it was actually a meticulously orchestrated operation.
An organized crime group had set this plan in motion after a courier accidentally dropped £4 million worth of bonds earlier that year. This mishap sparked their interest and led to the carefully executed robbery that unfolded soon after.
While it may have seen like a purely opportunistic mugging, the robbery was planned well in advance.
An organised crime syndicate hatched upon the idea when a courier dropped £4 million in bonds in January of that year.
When those bonds were returned in exchange for a bottle of champagne, it made national news.
The syndicate realised they could conduct a major heist and make it look like a mugging.
But the robbery was the easy part.
While the bonds may have been worth $1.4 billion, finding someone willing to buy them was a big issue.
One of the gangsters, Mark Osbourne, tried to sell the bonds to a New York mafioso.
But the mafioso turned out to be an FBI agent, and Osbourne was arrested.
A few months later, Osbourne disappeared and was later found murdered.
The suspected mugger also met a grim demise, murdered on the front door of the council estate where he lived.
Eventually all but two of the 301 bonds were recovered.
The Bank of England switched to electronic transactions for bonds in 2003.
The mugging remains the second biggest robbery in world history.
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