3 Charged in Record Robbery in Britain

Police charged three suspects Wednesday in last week’s $93-million robbery at a cash depot in southeastern England, the largest such theft in British history.

Police said car salesman John Fowler, 57, was charged with conspiracy to rob the Securitas Cash Management Ltd. warehouse and with kidnapping depot manager Colin Dixon, his wife, Lynn, and their 9-year-old son.

Stuart Royle, 47, was charged with conspiracy to rob, and Kim Shackelton, 39, was charged with handling stolen goods.

The three are scheduled to appear in court today.

Thirteen suspects have been arrested since the heist, but the three were the first formally charged by police.

Fowler owns a farm that has been the focus of intensive police searches near the robbed depot in Tonbridge, 25 miles southeast of London.

Police have declined to confirm television reports that a substantial amount of money had been found there.

Earlier Wednesday, the depot reopened for the first time since the robbery, and police examined a van they suspect was used to transport the loot.

“We are just trying to get back to normal. It’s obviously a big disruption,” Securitas spokesman Carl Courtney said.

Police in Kent, where Tonbridge is located, said the inquiry 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.

The robbery eclipsed the $50 million stolen from the Northern Bank’s headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in December 2004.

Authorities suspect an organized crime gang was behind the Tonbridge heist.