The first large property investors on the Costa - the sun-and-sangria bolt-hole where British criminals used to live openly without fear of extradition - he owned a villa called El Limonar at Benalmadena, two flats on the Marbella golden mile and a small townhouse at Mijas.
£6 million, the Security Express robbery was the biggest cash haul in British history and the five suspects, the 'Famous Five', became Britain's best known runaways.The headlines were Six hooded gunmen stole an estimated three tons of pure gold from a warehouse near Heathrow Airport here after dousing security guards with gasoline and threatening to set them afire. The haul, valued at $37.5 million, was the richest in British history and one of the biggest of all time. Insurers offered a reward of $3 million for information leading to the recovery of the loot, which also included a small quantity of diamonds, the value of which was not determined.
When they appeared on the Costa living lives of luxury in the sun, the trend of ex-pat criminals living in Spain was blown wide open. Security Express suspects Freddie Foreman and Ronnie Knight £314,813 from the Security Express robbery became unlikely celebrities in a tabloid tale that would fascinate the public and frustrate the authorities for the next decade.
