Loughton incinerator thefts

Between 1988 and 1992, four employees of the Bank of England's incinerator plant at Debden in Loughton, Essex, conspired to steal around £600,000 in banknotes that were due to be destroyed, in a series of thefts.[2] They changed padlocks on locked doors in order to be able to steal from piles of notes which had been taken out of circulation.[3] One participant, Christine Gibson, smuggled the notes out of the plant by stuffing them into her underwear.[4] Gibson initially worked in collaboration with just two other employees, Kenneth Longman and Michael Nairne, before the trio were approached and joined by a fourth individual, Kevin Winwright, who acted as their "look-out" and distracted the guards.[5] During this time, the group and their spouses lived a "life of Riley", spending their gains on expensive cars, motorcycles and jewellery.[6]

The criminal gang was brought to the attention of the police after Gibson's husband, Peter, attempted to make a deposit of £100,000 at the Ilford branch of the Reliance Mutual Insurance Society entirely in £20 and £50 notes. Nairne also attempted to make a deposit of £30,000 at the same branch.[4] All four colleagues and their respective partners were soon arrested, but only Winwright was prosecuted – he admitted to stealing £170,000 from the plant and received an 18-month prison sentence.[4]

The six remaining participants were then sued by the Bank of England at the High Court of Justice in April 1994. The civil case, Bank of England v Gibson, was overseen by Judge Norman Rudd, with Winwright giving evidence on behalf of the bank.[4] After a two-week trial, Rudd delivered his judgment on 26 April 1994, ordering the three families to repay more than half a million pounds to the bank.[1] As no witnesses who had given evidence in the High Court were willing to speak to the police, all three couples escaped criminal convictions.[6] The Bank of England finally closed the case in 2018.[3]

The story of the thefts was adapted into two films: first in 2001 as Hot Money, a television movie made for ITV starring Caroline Quentin,[7] then again as Mad Money, a 2008 film based on ITV's production, starring Diane Keaton.[8] A plot of criminals conspiring to steal banknotes about to be destroyed was also featured in the long-running German television series Cobra 11.

A similar crime was committed in 2000, when two bank clerks stole 110 sacks of notes valued at £23,000 that were due to be incinerated – the two participants were sent to prison for six and nine months.[9]

• Bank of England v Gibson at Law Index Pro (subscription required)