The Northern Bank Robbery
Unresolved
Unresolved Productions
4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 4 October 2020
⏱️ 52 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On the evening of December 20th, 2004, two Northern Bank executives carried out the largest heist in British history.
Just before 6:00 PM, Assistant Branch Manager Kevin McMullan told all but one of the staff members to go home early. Once they’d left, Kevin McMullan and the other staff member, Chris Ward, went down to the vault and began to place £50 notes into a large sports bag. They carried it up past the unsuspecting security guards and out onto the busy street.
A short distance from the bank, a man in a baseball cap was waiting for them. The man took the bag before explaining that they had to return to the bank where they would receive further instructions...
Researched & written by Gabriella Bromley
Hosted & produced by Micheal Whelan
Original music composed by Micheal Whelan through Amper Music
Other music courtesy of The Gateless Gate via the Free Music Archive
Producers: Roberta Janson, Ben Krokum, Gabriella Bromley, Peggy Belarde, Quil Carter, Laura Hannan, Damion Moore, Brittany Norris, Amy Hampton, Steven Wilson, Scott Meesey, Marie Vanglund, Scott Patzold, Sue Kirk, Aimee McGregor, Sydney Scotton, Travis Scsepko, Thomas Ahearn, Bryan Hall, Marion Welsh, Patrick Laakso, Seth Morgan, Alyssa Lawton, Jo Wong, Tatum Bautista, Meadow Landry, Ryan Green, Teunia Elzinga, Dawn Kellar, Stephanie Joyner, and Elissa Hampton-Dutro.
Apologies for no end credits this week - ran into a time crunch. I'll double-thank y'all next week, though!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It was a cold winter's day in Belfost, Northern Ireland, on Monday, December 20th, 2004. |
| 0:12.7 | Just days away from Christmas, the streets were filled with shoppers eager to get last minute |
| 0:17.9 | presents and other items in preparation for the big day. |
| 0:21.9 | The Northern Bank Cash Center on Dunnee-Gall Square, right in the center of Belfost, was |
| 0:27.3 | incredibly busy and with it being Christmas, it had a much larger amount of cash than |
| 0:32.4 | any other time of the year. |
| 0:34.2 | The staff members who worked at the bank were looking forward to their Christmas break, |
| 0:38.5 | with only a few days to go before their holidays. |
| 0:41.4 | A little before 6 p.m., the assistant branch manager, Kevin McMullen, told all but one |
| 0:47.4 | of the members of the staff to go home early as a Christmas treat. |
| 0:51.7 | Once they'd left, Kevin McMullen and the other staff member, Chris Ward, went down to |
| 0:57.1 | the vault and began to place 50 p.m. notes into a large sports bag. |
| 1:01.6 | They then carried this bag, passed the unsuspecting security guards, and out onto the busy |
| 1:06.7 | street. |
| 1:07.7 | This is the story of the Northern Bank robbery. |
| 1:13.7 | A day prior, Sunday, December 19th, 2004. |
| 1:18.0 | Chris Ward was at home with his family and pole glass on the outskirts of West Belfost. |
| 1:23.7 | Chris was 24 years old and was a bank supervisor at the Northern Bank, one of the four main Irish |
| 1:29.4 | banks. |
| 1:30.7 | Just before 10 p.m., there was a knock at his front door. |
| 1:34.2 | Chris answered and saw a man that he did not recognize, who began asking him about tickets |
| 1:39.1 | for the next Celtic football match, which wasn't unusual because Chris worked for the club |
... |
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