The notorious cage fighter named as the mastermind behind one of the world’s biggest cash robberies today breaks his 17-year silence to admit his role in the heist.
Lee “Lightning” Murray speaks from behind bars in his Moroccan jail where he is serving a 25-year sentence over the £53million Tonbridge Securitas raid.
It began with the kidnapping of depot manager Colin Dixon, his wife and young son late on February 21, 2006, and sparked an international manhunt.
Years later, several suspects are still at large and the whereabouts of £32million remains a mystery.
Five of the gang were captured quickly, but Murray, now 45, and childhood pal and fellow UFC fighter, Paul Allen, fled the UK and travelled through Europe before starting new lives in North Africa.
In a new four-part Showtime documentary called Catching Lightning, Murray speaks for the first time about his role – and shoots down claims he was the gang’s Mr Big.
From his cell in Sale jail, near Rabat, he insists: “I didn’t have control over it. I weren’t the one to come up with the idea, I weren’t the one who knew where the depot manager lived. I weren’t the one who knew what car he drove. I wasn’t the one who had someone who worked on the inside. You know?
“How can I be the mastermind? It was never my idea.”
Murray, seen in the documentary speaking in phone calls to his second wife, Nicola, and a pal called Pard, goes on: “This robbery was happening whether I was involved or not. It was going down. My role was no more than anybody else’s.”
A talented mixed martial arts fighter, 6ft 3in Murray only fought in the UFC once in 2004 but had knocked out UFC legend Tito Ortiz in a street brawl.
Born in Greenwich, South East London, he was a member of the feared Buttmarsh Boys and heavily involved in the drugs trade.
In the documentary, Murray tells in chilling detail how they duped Dixon, then 52, by dressing as police officers.
He says: “We flashed him with blue lights like police lights fitted into the grill of the car. Once he pulled over, we got out the car, and I went to his window and said to him, ‘Listen, there’s been a problem. I ran your number plate and it’s come back there’s a problem with it. Can you step out the car?’”
Dixon did as he was told before being placed in handcuffs. Murray says he was clearly suspicious. “Then we said to him ‘Listen, we’re not real police. Just do as you’re told, do as we say’. Obviously, we showed him we had a gun with us.”
The gang drove Dixon to Elderden Farm near Staplehurst, Kent. As they begin interrogating him, other gang members also dressed as police arrived at his home and bundled Dixon’s wife and eight-year-old son into a van.
“None of us knew they had a kid, a young kid anyway. That was just sprung on us at the moment,” Murray recalls, adding: “We’d gone too far down the road to turn back. We’re too far in.”
The thugs, armed with AK-47s, threatened to harm Dixon’s wife and son unless he returned to the depot in Tonbridge, Kent, and opened the vault. In the early hours, its 14 staff were trussed up while Dixon watched the gang empty carts filled with cash.
“When we went in there with the manager, he done all the work for us,” Murray says. “Just went straight into the security room and spoke to the security guard and said, ‘Listen, better just cooperate and do as they say’. We didn’t even have to do anything. You know we didn’t even need to shout.”
Meticulous planning had gone into the 66-minute raid, but their haul was so big they left behind £154m because their 7.5-ton lorry was too small.
Before the heist, the gang had visited make-up artist Michelle Hogg who made them up with false noses, chins and wigs. Afterwards, Murray and Allen went to her house to remove their disguises but a off-tip had meant she had been arrested.
Murray admits: “We knew we was in trouble then.”
Police traced gang vehicles and raided several properties. During the trial of five men, Hogg turned witness for the prosecution in return for her freedom and a new secret identity.
Years later, it was said Murray placed a £7m bounty on her head, but he rubbishes the claims in the show.
He says: “I haven’t got any problems with Michelle whatsoever. I don’t think she went in on me like the others did... they’re using me as a scapegoat to save their own skin.”
Ian Bowrem, Jetmir Bucpapa, Roger Coutts, Stuart Royle and Lea Rusha got 30 year sentences while Securitas inside man Emir Hysenaj got 20 years.
Murray and Allen tried to escape justice by taking a ferry to France before making their way to Morocco, where Murray’s father was born.
Once there, the UFC fighter thought he would beat the UK system by taking up citizenship to thwart his extradition.
However, it backfired when UK police implored a judge to use a little-known law and prosecute him for crimes committed abroad.
Finally in 2010, a judge sentenced him to 10 years’ jail, which was later upped to 25 after an appeal.
Allen was arrested in 2007 and extradited in 2009. He got 18 years after pleading guilty to the robbery.
Murray laments: “I don’t know how they done this, they just stitched me up.” Yet, incredibly, he still insists: “If I could turn back the clock and change what I done, I wouldn’t. Back then, I was a wild man. I didn’t think of the future... I think being in prison, you know, I’m learning from my mistakes. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. I made a mistake. A big mistake.”
Despite not being due for release until 2035, Murray has not given up on his dream of UFC stardom. He says: “Fighting’s my life. Fighting is in my blood... My story isn’t finished. This isn’t the end.”
* Showtime’s four-part documentary, Catching Lightning, is out on Friday.
