Ex-gangster Kenneth Noye was in potential breach of his parole during a night out with diamond thief John Collins (Picture: MailOnline)
Road rage killer Kenneth Noye risks being recalled to prison for breaching his parole conditions after enjoying a night out with a notorious diamond thief.
Noye, 76, is on licence from a life sentence after he stabbed motorist Stephen Cameron to death in 1996 before fleeing to Spain.
The former gangster, who also killed a police officer in 1985, was released from prison in 2019 but was banned from socialising with members of the criminal underworld as part of the terms of his release.
But at a black-tie event in Epsom, Surrey, on Saturday, Noye was spotted chatting with career-criminal John ‘Kenny’ Collins- and reportedly got along with the crook ‘like a house on fire’.
Noye was jailed for stabbing a motorist and told not to contact other criminals during his parole(Picture: PA)
Collins, 83, was one of the ringleaders of the £14million ‘Diamond Geezer’ Hatton Garden heist in 2015– and served a six-year jail term for it.
But a guest at the James Bond-themed Xmas bash told the Mail the pair ‘talked for hours and were laughing and joking.
‘Kenny had this $100 note and was waving it in the air. He found the whole thing hilarious,’ they said.
A source told the publication Noye ‘has to keep in touch with parole officers. He is not allowed a passport and he must stay away from the gangland fraternity. One of his release conditions is not to knowingly engage with other criminals.
‘He has been going straight since his release and he isn’t likely to commit any more crimes, but the law has its eyes firmly on him. This will never stop.’
If seen by parole officers, the photo of Noye and Collins could be enough to send the 76-year-old back to prison for breaching the terms of his freedom.
Noye gained infamy for his role in the 1983 Brinks-Mat gold heist, Britain’s biggest ever robbery which saw a gang of six loot £26 million in gold, diamonds and cash from a warehouse in London’s Heathrow airport.
(L-R) John Collins, Daniel Jones, Terry Perkins and Brian Reader, were jailed for their role in a massive diamond heist in 2015 (Picture: PA)
In 1985, he fatally stabbed police detective John Fordham who was involved in surveillance of his home.
But he was cleared of murder after a jury accepted a self-defence plea.
In 1986, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison for his role in the Brinks-Mat robbery, but was released after serving eight years.
He later stabbed Stephen Cameron, 21, to death in 1996 during a bout of road rage by the M25 in 1996.
Noye fled to Spain to escape the charges, but was traced by authorities while on the run and eventually brought back to Britain, where he was handed a life sentence.
Collins, meanwhile, was the lookout man for the gang which carried out the Hatton Garden heist on the Easter Bank Holiday in 2015.
The raid at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company in London’s diamond district is believed to be the largest burglary in British legal history.
Noye was jailed in 1986 for his role in a massive gold heist at Heathrow airport (Picture: PA)
The official value of the stolen goods was estimated at £13.7million of jewellery, precious gems and cash- but its true value could be as high as £26 million.
The heist was planned and carried out by six elderly men who were experienced thieves, all of whom were arrested, pleaded guilty and received prison sentences in March 2016.
Collins was released in 2018 after serving half of his sentence – but he was recalled to prison in 2019 after failing to pay back millions of pounds stolen in the raid.
A film about the heist, The Hatton Garden Job, was released in 2017 and starred Larry Lamb and Phil Daniels.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
The ex-gangster was banned from contacting members of the criminal underworld.