The thing about radio is that conversations aren’t private, and as a result some conversations that should never be heard can reach a wide audience. In this case, they were even put on tape.

On the night of 11 September 1971, a young man called Robert Rowland was sitting alone in his flat in Wimpole Street, Central London. His wife had gone to visit her parents so he settled down with a cup of tea planning to listen to his radio for company. Instead, he found himself listening to conversations between robbers and their rooftop lookout. He contacted the local police station to no avail, so he decided to record the conversations while the robbery was in progress.

Robert knew he was listening to a bank robbery but didn’t have enough information to identify which one it was. He then contacted Scotland Yard and at 2 am a senior police officer alerted radio detector vans to track down the gang and to have the 750 banks within a 10 mile radius of Roberts receiver checked. This included the Baker Street Branch of Lloyds Bank, but the police apparently found nothing. By this time the bank vault was full of fumes and the gang had left for the night leaving only the lookout on the roof. The thieves got away with 1.5 million pounds cash and with the valuables from the safety deposit boxes. The total was believed to be nearer the 3 million pound mark. That would be roughly 35 million pounds today.

As you would imagine, the story broke at 9 am on the Monday on the UK’s Radio 4 and a reporter came to interview Robert Rowland, but was warned off by a detective who immediately took the recordings Robert had made. The reporter spoke to his editor and was told that a D notice had been placed on the story, banning publication. This wasn’t true as an investigation some years later proved that no D notice had even been applied for, but still the story magically disappeared from sight.

Robert was then threatened with prosecution for listening to an unlicensed radio station but he was never prosecuted and received a 2,500 pound reward from Lloyds bank.

When the facts came to light it seemed the robbery had been entirely unexpected.

In 1960 Princess Margaret, sister of Queen Elizabeth, had been given a wedding present of a 10 acre plot on the island of Mustique. She later built a home on it called Les Jolies Eaux. Despite knowing that reporters would do almost anything to get photographs of her, she did as she liked and apparently someone had taken some compromising photos which had fallen into the hands of Michael X the black activist and while he had these he was untouchable by the authorities.

When intelligence services found out where the pictures were being kept they put word out that the bank would be easy to rob and the robbers Robert Rowland overheard took the bait.

Soon after, Michael X was arrested and tried in his native Trinidad for the murder of Joseph Skerritt a member of his Black Liberation Army. He was hanged in 1975.

In 1973 four men were convicted of the robbery.

The moral of the tale is two fold. When you talk on the radio, you never know who is listening. When you listen, you never know what interesting things you might hear!

Author Bio: If you would like to learn more about CB radio or 10 meter radio you can visit us at ThorsCBradio.com. 10 meter radio has become more popular because they offer greater power than a traditional CB radio.

Category: Computers and Technology
Keywords: cb radio, 10 meter radio