He told his Hackney, and other local CID officers, that after the meeting DS Gibbs would read out who was working with who and at which location.
‘Any questions so far?’ Bradfield asked.
They came thick and fast and he had to keep instructing them to ask their questions in an orderly fashion.
A surveillance officer raised his hand and Bradfield pointed to him.
‘Do we have any intel that suggests the suspects might be armed?’
There was a sudden hush and there were a few worried looks. It was something that no one had as yet considered, even Bradfield, but he wasn’t going to admit it.
‘Good question – there is no intel about that, but my gut feeling is that they won’t be armed. This appears to be a tunnelling job as opposed to a “by the front door” armed bank robbery, and real guns aren’t the Bentleys’ style. I know that may not reassure all of you so I will instruct Duty Sergeant Harris to issue firearms from the safe to those of you who are authorized to use them. Let me be straight that using firearms is a last resort and they are only to be used if any of the suspects pulls a gun. The last thing I want is a gun fight at the corral, bullets flying around and an own goal where one of us gets shot by a colleague.’
A scruffily dressed undercover officer, who had long greasy hair and facial stubble, stuck up his hand. He was wearing woollen gloves with the fingers cut off, the wool in places unravelling as he had been pulling off strands throughout the meeting.
‘How we going about monitoring the suspects’ walkie-talkie communications?’
‘We have an expert on board, provided by DS Gibbs, who has equipment to monitor other radios in the vicinity.’
‘How does it work, guv?’ he asked.
Bradfield turned to Gibbs with a cheeky grin. ‘I think you’re best placed to answer any questions.’
‘Uh, well, it’s to do with amps, frequencies, megahertz, etc. All a bit complicated really so I won’t bore you with the details,’ Gibbs said, and looked at Bradfield as if to say, ‘Don’t you dare ask me to elaborate further.’
Another officer put his hand up. ‘I assume the bank must have an alarm? Surely if they try to get into the vault it will go off?’
‘If they attempt to open the vault door from the outside out of banking hours all hell will break loose with more bells ringing than a monastery. However, my bet is they have a good bell man on their team. The TSB manager thinks the bank is impenetrable but the thing is, if the alarms are down, it’s not. For any of you not familiar with the term “bell man”, it’s a villain’s term for someone who’s an expert electrician, especially when it comes to alarm systems. They know how to cut, bypass and disarm them without triggering the system. That’s why I think the former Army engineer and electrician Danny Mitcham is on the Bentleys’ team. He also trained with a bomb-disposal unit for two years.’
Bradfield gestured towards the mug shot of Mitcham, adding that he had been discharged from the Army for stealing electrical equipment and seriously assaulting the military policeman who tried to arrest him. He did not add that as yet they had no clarification that he was actually connected and it was simply his gut feeling.
‘You think they’ll be using explosives?’
‘I doubt it. It’s a very confined space and too dangerous. Explosives were used by the gang that did the bank robbery two years ago, and the dust nearly choked them all.’
There were murmurs and nods of agreement about Mitcham as the same undercover officer asked the next question.
‘Did the DCS give any indication of how long Operation Hawk’s to run?’
‘It’s going to be for as long as it takes.’
‘Shit, that could be weeks, months even? Me granny’s knitted gloves’ll be shredded.’
‘We stay on this, and we wait. But my bet is they’ll be in the vault any day now.’
Again murmurs erupted and Bradfield had to quieten them down. This time Kath put her hand up.
‘It might be nothing, but WPC Tennison’s report from yesterday afternoon says she heard Renee Bentley ask the postmaster when some old £5 notes would no longer be legal tender.’
Gibbs shrugged. ‘It’s September this year and it’s the ones issued between 1963 and 1971 – they were the first issue with Queen Elizabeth’s head on. What’s strange about that?’
‘I don’t see Renee as someone who’d have a lot of old fivers stashed away for a rainy day. But a bank would, and she might just be asking about the fivers on behalf of her old man and sons. I mean, you don’t want to turn a bank over and have a few grand of fivers that will soon be worthless.’
Bradfield hadn’t read Jane’s report and he knew Kath had raised a valid point. He gave a cold glance towards Jane wondering why she hadn’t told him. She blushed and looked away.
‘Thank you, Kath, good point. But it can only be resolved by interviewing Renee and I can’t very well do that before arresting the rest of her family, can I?’
‘She also wanted to know about travel brochures for the US – strange when you think she’s probably never been further than Southend.’
