Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Murder victim’s family ‘disgusted’ by BBC portrayal of The Gold killer

Stephen Cameron, 21, was killed by Kenneth Noye in Swanley, Kent, in 1996 on an M25 slip road

Martha McHardy
Wednesday 15 February 2023 08:06 GMT
Comments
The Gold trailer

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

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”.

Jack Lowden as Kenneth Noye in ‘The Gold’
Jack Lowden as Kenneth Noye in ‘The Gold’ (BBC/Tannadice Pictures/Sally Mais)

“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.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in