From piracy on the high seas to the recent Securitas depot robbery in Kent, Britain has a long and inglorious tradition of armed robbery as a way of life. In this uniquely compelling history, reformed career criminal Terry Smith brings the benefit of hard-won wisdom to his analysis of all the major cases. Casting a sharp eye over both the dangerously devil-may-care ‚blagger‘ and the more organised professional ‚villain‘, he brings an insider’s point of view to the most high-profile armed robberies of the past 50 years. Each chapter has a full and comprehensive account of the robbery in the words of those who participated in it (including some exclusive interview material), the media, police and court records – starting from the initial spark through to the planning, organisation and execution of the crime, and how it came to be solved by law enforcement.