EXCLUSIVE: 'THE POWER OF NOYE' Ex-detective's claim 'corrupt cops led gunman to protected witness'

JAIL: Noye after his arrest following two years on the run (PA)

A MAN who turned "supergrass" against a crime gang allegedly set up by former Brink's-Mat crook Kenneth Noye was located at his safehouse by a gunman while he was living under witness protection, a former Met Police detective has claimed.

Martin Grant, 63, was placed into witness protection after he shopped the gang which was planning an infamous £800 million "hole in the wall" banking fraud after being unwittingly recruited into it by Noye, 75, according to the former detective sergeant.

Mr Grant was star witness in the 1996 trial of seven of Noye's associates, who were all convicted of fraud at Southwark Crown Court.

VICTIM: Stephen Cameron was murdered by Noye in May 1996 (Met Police)

The notorious former gangster was never charged and If he had, Noye may have been in prison when the day he murdered Stephen Cameron, 21, in a road rage attack on an M25 slip road in May 1996.

It was his second killing after he stabbed undercover detective John Fordham, who was investigating the Brink's-Mat gold, to death in his garden in 1985.

Noye was acquitted at trial of murder, claiming he acted in self defence after being startled by Mr Fordham's appearance in a balaclava.

Noye is currently being portrayed by Jack Lowden as a loveable rogue in BBC drama The Gold about the 1983 multi-million pound Brink's-Mat gold bullion robbery.

However, the former detective, who uses the online pseudonym Frank Matthews, believes claims that Noye was able to influence the supposedly secure witness protection unit within the Met due to contact with corrupt officers.

GANGSTER: The infamous police mugshot of Kenneth Noye (Met Police)

Frank was involved in placing Mr Grant in witness protection ahead of and after the trial.

He said: "It is my belief that Noye was being aided by corrupt police, some of who were on the 'hole in the wall' investigation team.

"They seemed to do everything to keep Noye out of the case. Martin Grant was prepared to give evidence against Noye, but was discouraged."

Frank was given the task of protecting Mr Grant, but was not told who he was actually keeping him safe from.

He said: "You have to know who you are protecting them from so you can choose the right location. We were wrongly told it was the IRA - a pack of lies. That was the power of Noye.

"We put him at a south London address - right in Noye country, because we had no idea he was involved."

Frank suggested a member of the hole in the wall investigation team could have passed the witness protection address before a gunman turned up.

DISGUISE: False passport in name of Alan Green used by Noye on the run (PA)

He said: "They should not be told where it is, so this can only have been leaked to them.

"Next day a man wearing a balaclava came right up to the address and showed a handgun.

"He was caught on camera. It was a warning to Mr Grant."

Mr Grant had to be moved straight to a new address.

Frank said he reported his concerns to superiors about possible police corruption in connection with Noye, but nothing appeared to be done.

Mr Grant's involvement with Noye started while he served a 16-year prison sentence for the attempted murder by arson of his wife and child and the latter was inside over Brink's Mat.

He was studying electronic communications at Blantyre House open prison in Kent, when associates of Noye cottoned on to his computer wizardry.

In 1995, Noye was not long out of prison after serving eight years of a 14-year sentence he received in 1986 for handling stolen goods from the Brink's-Mat robbery.

Frank said: "Within a couple of years Noye managed to swing it with the prison authorities for Mr grant to have day release.

"He would meet the gang on days out."

The plan was to use corrupt British Telecom technicians to tap into phone lines that linked cash machines to banks' computers.

The hack would given them access to details of thousands of customer accounts, which they wanted Mr Grant to download.

It was then to be transferred onto 140,000 fake cash cards which would have been used to make withdrawals across the globe.

Frank said: "Martin Grant soon realised he was out of his depth and he wanted out. He went to see the prison chaplain and grassed and he told the Old Bill."

Grant is now living in hiding. Police believe a £100,000 contract was taken out on his life.

Noye's associates each got between two and five years in prison for the plot, except for one who was hit with a £50,000 fine and had his two year term suspended.

Danielle Cable, Mr Cameron's fiancé at the time of his murder, also gave evidence against Noye at the murder trial and was placed into witness protection.

LOVERS: Danielle Cable, then 17, with fiancé Stephen Cameron

Although, when Noye was released in 2019, the Parole Board claimed he had learnt to deal with his violent temper, Frank said both she and Martin Grant would constantly live in fear after his release.

He added: "If those in the Met Police had acted on my concerns with this case there is every chance Stephen Cameron would not have been murdered."

The Martin Grant case was brought up by Frank, with a host of other alleged racism and corruption issues within the force, when he took the Met to an employment tribunal.

The case settled out of court in 2000 with a significant pay out to Frank.

In January Noye admitted to previously having corrupt officers at his disposal, but insisted he has mended his ways and is no threat to Ms Cable.

He even said there should be an inquiry into police corruption in which he would give evidence on oath if he was given immunity from any further prosecution.

He said: "Most officers are c­orruptible. Some might need money, some love and others a car. About 15 percent of the Metropolitan Police force is corrupt.

“You’ll never get to the truth because no one wants to go to jail. If you want to understand corruption you must talk about it without the risk of prosecution.”

A Met Police spokesman said: "The MPS would never confirm nor deny whether an individual was part of a witness protection scheme or not. The witness protection scheme is only one of a number of protective measures deployed by the MPS.

"We remain committed to supporting victims and witnesses at all levels by appropriate measures being deployed either through specialist units or our witness care units on a local level."