Lee Murray
Lee Brahim Lamrani-Murray is a Moroccan-British convicted bank robber and former mixed martial artist. During his MMA career from 1999 to 2004, he fought 12 times, including a victory in the Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 46. He organised the Securitas depot robbery in February 2006, where around £53 million in cash belonging to the Bank of England was stolen by Murray and his associates. It was the largest known cash robbery in the world during peacetime.
Murray was born on 12 November 1977 in St Nicholas' Hospital, Plumstead. His mother, Barbara Murray, hailed from Bermondsey, south London. She was a hairdresser and later a telephonist. On a holiday to Gran Canaria she met Lee's father, Brahim Lamrani, a kitchen hand from Sidi Ifni, Morocco. Lee was initially raised by his mother while Brahim continued to live and work in the Canary Islands. Brahim later moved to England and married Barbara in 1984. Lee had one sibling, a sister named Rkia born in 1985. The family lived at 11 Buttmarsh Close, Woolwich, and Murray attended Foxfield Primary School, where he met his future wife, Siobhan Rowlings, three years his junior. As a child, Murray engaged in fights with boys from neighbouring estates. He had a difficult relationship with his father, who was mocked on the streets for wearing a djellaba and was often drunk. Described as a "frightening, violent man", Brahim demanded respect and obedience from Lee. He was abusive and was cautioned once by police for mistreatment. Eventually, Lee began to fight back against his father. Their relationship grew so volatile that Brahim felt living together would result in a death so he moved out. Barbara was then left to raise Lee and Rkia largely on her own and moved into a council house in the Abbey Wood estate.
Beginnings
Murray began mixed martial arts (MMA) training in 1999, when he joined London Shootfighters. The gym's co-owner Alexis Demetriades recalled that Murray looked demonic, with pointy eyes and a pointy head. Murray competed in his first MMA bout on 5 December 1999 at an event called "Millennium Brawl", which was held at Hemel Hempstead Pavilion. He knocked out his opponent Rob Hudson in the first round. Fight promoter Andy Jardine stated: "He was so quick they called him 'Lightning' Lee Murray." Murray's successful debut led him to seriously pursue a career in MMA; alongside training at London Shootfighters in White City for wrestling, he joined Peacock's Gym in Canning Town to develop his boxing. Martin Bowers, who ran Peacock's with his brothers Tony and Paul, described Murray as "a very nice boy, conducted himself well." Bowers said that Murray reminded him of many other young men he had seen in his gym over the years who came from troubled backgrounds and were given structure by sport. While Murray was training at Peacock's Gym, the Bowers brothers were planning a series of robberies, the biggest being a scheme to raid a high-security warehouse at Gatwick Airport and steal £1 million in foreign currency. Scotland Yard found out about the planned heist and all three brothers were arrested; Murray was uninvolved in the plans.
Tito Ortiz brawl, road rage incident
Back in England, Murray continued to fight on the regional scene, including a draw against Chris Bacon in 2001. The following year, while outside a nightclub after the UFC 38 event in London in July 2002, Murray became involved in a street fight with then-UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. Murray reportedly knocked Ortiz out with a five-punch combination then kicked him in the head when he was on the ground. This version of events was repeated in Matt Hughes' 2008 autobiography. Pat Miletich was on the scene and stated that he and Tony Fryklund subsequently intervened to stop Murray from stomping Ortiz's head on the ground. Ortiz denied he was knocked out, stating that he had instead slipped due to wearing dress shoes. Chuck Liddell, who also participated in the street fight, said Ortiz had been knocked down but was not knocked unconscious. The story of the street fight spread and made Murray well known in MMA circles. Two months later, Murray knocked out Pride FC veteran Amir Rahnavardi with a left-hook four seconds into the first round.
UFC debut, visa issues, stabbing
In January 2004, Murray's wife Siobhan gave birth to their second child, a son named Lee. Later that month, Murray travelled to the United States to make his debut in the UFC. He faced Jorge Rivera at UFC 46, held on 31 January in Las Vegas, Nevada. Murray walked out to the octagon wearing an orange jumpsuit and a Hannibal Lecter-style mask. He was taken down by Rivera early in the first round but caught him in a triangle armbar, which forced Rivera to submit. Although he had won the fight, the UFC were displeased with Murray as he did not reveal that he was under active criminal investigation in the United Kingdom. Murray was scheduled to fight Curtis Stout at UFC 48 in June 2004, but he was unable to attain a visa to travel to the United States. It later emerged that the Metropolitan Police had shared intelligence with American authorities about Murray's criminal history.
On 21 February 2006, Colin Dixon, manager of a Securitas depot in Tonbridge, was kidnapped by a group of robbers and forced to participate in the Securitas depot robbery. Dixon's wife and child were also taken hostage. This was an example of a tiger kidnapping. In the early hours of 22 February, the robbers arrived at the depot; Dixon was transported in a car and was followed by a 7.5-tonne lorry. The robbers were armed and held the staff inside the depot at gunpoint while loading cash into the lorry. The gang stole £52,996,760 in banknotes; they left over £153 million behind due to insufficient space in the lorry. Murray was named as the "mastermind" of the robbery and identified as the individual who police had nicknamed "Stopwatch", as he carried a stopwatch during the heist and timed the actions of the other robbers. The gang conducted the robbery at the depot in under an hour. Judge David Penry-Davey later described the heist as "organised banditry for uniquely high stakes".
Murray fled England following the robbery, leaving his wife and two children behind. He and Allen travelled to Dover then boarded a ferry to France. They subsequently went to Amsterdam before driving south into Spain, crossing the strait of Gibraltar by ferry and arriving in Morocco. Murray chose to stay in Morocco as he held Moroccan citizenship through his father and the country had no extradition treaty with the United Kingdom. He stayed in a villa in the capital city Rabat alongside Allen and was later joined by two other friends, Gary Armitage and Mustafa Basar. They spent extravagantly on clothes and jewellery, drove around in a Mercedes and frequently vacationed in Casablanca. Murray and Allen exchanged large amounts of money in a casino, which was a common money-laundering tactic. It was rare for single men to share a house so Moroccan locals suspected they might be homosexuals. Murray refurbished the villa, adding decorations such as a statue of himself and a mural depicting his victorious UFC debut.
Murray was chronicled by ESPN in an E:60 segment in August 2008. Also that month, Time Inc. announced that they planned to make a film about Murray and the Securitas depot robbery, based on an April 2008 Sports illustrated article called "Breaking the Bank". In addition to the robbery, the film was set to be a biopic on Murray, including his mixed martial arts career. Variety reported in 2009 that Darren Aronofsky would produce and direct the film. Aronofsky later dropped out of the project to focus instead on the film Noah. In 2012, Deadline Hollywood stated that Gareth Evans had replaced Aronofsky and XYZ Films was set to produce the film, which would be based on the Sports Illustrated article as well as Howard Sounes' 2009 book Heist: The True Story of the World's Biggest Cash Robbery. The film ultimately did not come to fruition. In 2021, UFC Fight Pass released a 25-minute documentary, "Fightlore: Lee Murray's Crimes and Misadventures", which featured interviews with MMA fighter Pat Miletich and Murray's former boxing trainer Terry Coulter, where they shared their experiences with Murray. In 2023, Showtime aired a four-episode docuseries about Murray and the Securitas depot robbery, titled Catching Lightning.
