Kenneth Noye was born in Bexleyheath, Kent (now in Greater London), where his father ran a post office and his mother a dog racing track.
[2] A police informant for many years,[4] Noye had established a relationship with corrupt officers by the time he was arrested for receiving stolen goods in 1977.
Having initially been refused planning permission for a mansion on a plot of land he owned, he was able to gain consent in a subsequent application shortly after his bungalow on the site was destroyed in a fire caused by an electrical fault.
[2] Active as a fence, Noye was among those involved in laundering a huge quantity of stolen gold bullion taken during the Brink's-Mat robbery on 26 November 1983.
[17] While Noye was on the run, Detective Constable John Donald was jailed for eleven years for passing confidential information to him.
[20] A police hunt assisted by GCHQ found Noye in Spain, where he was arrested in the resort of Barbate near Gibraltar[21] on 28 August 1998.
[7] Found guilty on 14 April 2000, after a trial held in conditions of high security,[28] Noye was convicted of murder by the jury's majority verdict of 11–1 after their deliberations had lasted 8 hours and 21 minutes,[29] and was given a life sentence by Lord Justice Latham.
[34] An inquiry by auditors from the Lord Chancellor's department found that the correct legal aid procedures were not followed, as a result of carelessness rather than corrupt practice.
[37] Cable was given a new identity under the witness protection programme, having been praised by police for her courage in giving evidence in the presence of Noye and his associates.
[38][39][40] Another eyewitness in the Cameron murder, Alan Decabral,[41] declined protection[42] and was shot dead in his car in front of shoppers through his open window in Ashford, Kent, on 5 October 2000 (some 6 months after Noye's conviction).
[43][44] Police sources also stated that Decabral had been questioned about gun smuggling,[43][45] had extensive criminal contacts,[42] and his estranged wife later admitted that he had been a drug dealer who owed money to others.
[44] Witnesses to the murder in the retail park said they heard Decabral beg for his life before a young man in a woolly hat shot him.
Mr Justice Simon, a High Court judge sitting at Newcastle, ordered that he must spend at least 16 years in jail before he could be considered for parole.
[60] However, in the High Court, Mr Justice Lavender accepted a legal challenge in February 2017 that Gove had "failed to give proper or adequate weight to the recommendation of the Parole Board".
Edward Fitzgerald, QC, acting for Noye, said during the previous month's hearing that the board had "noted that he had made significant progress in changing his attitudes and tackling his behavioural problems".
Counsel for the Justice Secretary, Tom Weisselberg, QC, said Gove had doubted Noye had reformed, and considered there was the risk he would escape because of his connections to Spain.
[66] The parole board considered risks associated with his release due to "his readiness to carry and use weapons" and because Noye was "not being able to resolve arguments reasonably at key moments" as he "did not always control extreme emotions well”.