The family of a murdered electrician who was killed by a career criminal have condemned the portrayal of him as a “Robin Hood” figure in a BBC series about the 1983 Brink’s-Mat gold bullion robbery.
Stephen Cameron, 21, was killed by Kenneth Noye in Swanley, Kent, in 1996 on an M25 slip road. Noye, now 75, was sentenced in 2000 to a minimum term of 16 years and was released in 2019.
Nove previously served 14 years in jail for his part in the 1983 robbery which has been dramatised in a new BBC show, The Gold, which first aired on Monday.
However, Gary Cameron, 61, the electrician’s uncle, has criticised the drama, claiming it depicts Noye as “some kind of a good guy when he is a cold-blooded murderer”.
“They have made him out to be some sort of Robin Hood character, taking from the rich. It’s unbelievable”, he told Mail Online.
“I watched the first episode and was disgusted when I saw they have portrayed him as a nice guy, some sort of loveable rogue, which is completely wrong. It is not how he was. The man is a villain who is a ruthless double killer.”
Gary Cameron said that watching the series had brought back painful memories for his family, adding that Stephen’s late parents, Ken and Toni Cameron, never got over his death.
The 61-year-old said that if Ken was still alive, he would be “appaled” by the series.
“He had come to terms with Noye being released, but he never got over his son’s death. He was a broken man from when Stephen died in 1996 and took his own life a year ago.”
Cameron’s murder is not directly featured in the series other than in the closing titles which include an update on what happened after the robbery .
The 1983 Brink’s-Mat gold bullion robbery took place the Heathrow International Trading Estate and robbers stole £26 million worth of gold, diamonds, and cash.
The majority of the gold has never been recovered.
The BBC drama stars Hugh Bonneville, Jack Lowden, Dominic Cooper, Charlotte Spencer, and Tom Cullen.
