British officials feared ‘top man’ in Northern Bank robbery would avoid arrest

British officials feared 'top man' in Northern Bank raid would be 'too clever to be arrested'

They also agreed the heist would not derail peace process efforts, which included the details of.. • UK • One News Page: Saturday, 27 December 2025

Northern Bank robbery ‘symptom’ of IRA criminality, Ahern told Adams

Taoiseach expressed anger at 2004 raid, carried out while Sinn Féin continued negotiations with British and Irish governments

Government felt ‘let down’ by £26.5m Northern Bank robbery in Belfast, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told senior Sinn Féin officials

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told senior Sinn Féin officials that the Government felt “let down” by the Northern Bank robbery in Belfast in which £26.5m was stolen.

UK voiced concerns over 'top man' in Northern Bank heist

Then British prime minister Tony Blair's chief of staff Jonathan Powell told Irish officials he believed the "top man" involved in the £26.5m Northern Bank robbery would be "clever enough to avoid getting arrested" weeks after the infamous raid took place.

British officials feared ‘top man’ in Northern Bank robbery would avoid arrest

Downing Street chief of staff at the time, Jonathan Powell, said the robbery ‘had knocked up the price’ of peace negotiations.

Government said IRA man organised £26.5m bank raid

Prof Marie Coleman and Gabija GataveckaiteDublin Pacemaker Bobby Storey, pictured in 2014, was seen as a key individual in selling the peace process to republican hardliners The UK government told their counterparts in Northern Ireland that IRA figure Bobby Storey was responsible for the Northern Bank Robbery in 2004. Some £26.5m was stolen from the bank at Donegall Square in Belfast in December 2004 in a crime that threatened to destabilise t…