When five members of the gang who carried out Britain’s biggest ever robbery were jailed at the Old Bailey last week for playing for what the judge described as "uniquely high stakes", it was to Northern Cyprus that the attention shifted. With only £21m of the stolen £53m recovered, did Northern Cyprus, which has no extradition treaty with the UK and where a number of fugitives have fled in the past, hold the secret of much of the missing money and one of the missing suspects?
Kent police said yesterday they believe that Sean Lupton, the man they want to talk to in connection with the robbery, is hiding in Northern Cyprus. Lupton, a 46-year-old builder and amateur boxing coach from Whitstable, was questioned in connection with the robbery but never charged. He was last seen in December 2006 and his wife, Theresa, said yesterday that she believed her husband had been murdered.
For years Northern Cyprus has had a reputation as a haven for ex-pat villains. But the local authorities and the island’s British ex-pats are adamant that the image is exaggerated and say that if Lupton or the loot had been on Cyprus’s northern coast they would know.
One man perhaps uniquely qualified to talk is Gary Robb, a former nightclub owner who skipped bail 10 years ago on drugs conspiracy charges and who is the subject of an Interpol red alert over a property deal.
"I came here because I knew I wouldn’t get a fair trial in Britain," said Robb, 45, over a coffee in the bar of the Mercure hotel. "I explained to the government here that I wasn’t guilty. It’s a fantastic place to live. There’s no violence and the police here are very respectful, nothing like the police in England. I’ve got young children and they love it here. It’s very safe and you can literally leave your door open."
Robb, who numbers a couple of retired British policemen among his friends on the island, said he had seen other fugitives come and go. "I met Kenneth Noye [now jailed for life for murder] when he was here; he was in property development. Brian Wright, [nicknamed "the milkman" because he always delivered, now serving 30 years for drugs smuggling] was a very nice guy, too, he kept himself to himself. I know Asil Nadir [the Polly Peck tycoon, facing £30m fraud and theft charges in the UK, now the publisher of English-language paper Cyprus Today]. He is very bitter about the way he was treated in Britain. He knows he wouldn’t get a fair trial there either."
But Robb says there has been no sign of Lupton and, anyway, the banking arrangements are such that it would be very hard to launder so many millions, whether through property investment or the casinos.
The government of Northern Cyprus, which split from the Greek south after the Turkish invasion in 1974, says that neither the Securitas robbers nor their money would be welcome. Turgay Avci, the minister of foreign affairs, said that they were aware of the latest stories.
"The government is concerned that Northern Cyprus should not become a haven for criminals or their ill-gotten gains," he said. "For some time we have been cooperating willingly – and very effectively – with British and EU police forces to prevent just such an eventuality. As Northern Cyprus is not officially recognized by Britain no extradition treaty has been drawn up and signed."