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Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life

Tim Harford explains the numbers and statistics in the news and in life.

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More or Less: Does British jewellery contain stolen Brink’s-Mat gold?

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Does British Jewellery contain stolen Brink’s-Mat gold?

04/03/2023 GMT

Does British jewellery contain stolen Brink’s-Mat gold?

BBC World Service - More or Less, Does British jewellery contain stolen Brink’s-Mat gold?

We ask what happened to the 3 tonnes of pure gold after the infamous robbery of 1983

We look at a claim that most gold jewellery bought in the UK after 1984 will contain traces of gold from the infamous robbery.

The Brink’s-Mat robbery remains to this day one of Britain’s biggest and most audacious heists. Six armed men stole diamonds, cash and three tonnes of gold bullion from a warehouse close to London’s Heathrow Airport in November 1983. It’s now the subject of a BBC television drama, The Gold, which includes the claim that most gold jewellery bought in the UK from 1984 onwards will contain traces of that stolen gold. But how true is that? Tim Harford and team investigate, with the help of Zoe Lyons from Hatton Garden Metals and Rob Eastaway, author of Maths on the Back of an Envelope.

Presenter: Tim Harford,
Producers: Jo Casserly, Jon Bithrey
Editor: Richard Vadon
Sound Engineer: Neil Churchill
Production Co-ordinator: Brenda Brown

(woman wearing a gold ring and necklace. Credit: Getty images)

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