The Water Street Job was a unique crime in the annals of British criminal history. It was the tunneling into and gaining entry to the bank vault, escaping with a reputed £140,000. This crime took place over the Bank Holiday weekend in August 1969. Why have I put this on? simple. There was an issue very close to home. My father received a visit from Police officers whom had received an anonymous tip that my father owned a thermal lance. The villains burned their way into the bank vault with such apparatus.
My father opened his shed and showed them his cutting gear; An oxyacetylene torch, just you find in any garage or workshop. "Where`s your lance?" was the first question upon entering the shed. Dad explained that this was the only gear he had and how had they come up with this ridiculous scenario. They said it was an anonymous tip. Dad pointed to the next door neighbors ` house saying, "that`s the bastard who phoned you. He`s only done that because I would n t do a welding job on his car". This guy was a petty thief, always braking into peoples` sheds and garages. Dad told the Police whom he bought his cutting gear off, a prominent local businessman and off they went to see him. Dad phoned him to warn him, to which he thought Dad was trying to take the piss. Eventually, he convinced him, and soon a return call came. The guy said he told everything to the plods and then they wanted to know if Dad was a villain, or mixed with heavy villains. Dad said he should have told them that Ronnie & Reggie were regular visitors!
The truth was that the villains who did pull the job, were all apprehended and jailed. The mastermind was said to have been Tommy Comerford, who received ten years. He was also said to have been Britain's first drugs baron, again receiving a substantial jail sentence later on.
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