Three charged over record heist

LONDON - Police have charged three people in connection with a £53m (NZ$139m) security depot raid, the biggest cash robbery in British history.

The two men and a woman were the first to be charged over last week's heist in which the Bank of England lost £25m of its banknotes.

A gang posing as police officers seized the depot's manager then took his wife and young son hostage and threatened to harm them unless he helped them get inside the compound, police said.

The robbery eclipsed the theft in 2004 of £26.5m from a bank in Northern Ireland that was widely blamed on IRA paramilitaries.

It also surpassed Britain's most famous cash raid: the Great Train Robbery of 1963 when a gang stole £2.6m pounds from an overnight mail train. The money would be worth as much as £40m pounds today.

Police in Kent said the probe could last for years.

"This investigation is likely to continue for many months and possibly years as we track down those responsible and indeed all of the stolen money," Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard said in a statement.

Police refused to comment on media reports that a substantial amount of money had been found buried on a farm in Kent. Detectives found the cash on land surrounding the isolated farm, Thursday's Daily Telegraph said, citing unnamed police sources.

Police said car salesmen John Fowler, 57, and Stuart Royle, 39, were charged with conspiracy to rob the depot.

Fowler was also charged with kidnapping the depot's manager Colin Dixon, his wife Lynn and their son Craig.

Kim Shackleton, 39, self-employed, was charged with handling stolen goods. They are due to appear in court on Thursday.

- REUTERS