Soyer says heist suspect ‘never entered north’

TURK?SH Cypriot ‘Prime Minister’ Ferdi Sabit Soyer said yesterday that British fugitive Sean Lupton had never entered the north.

Lupton, a 47 year-old builder, disappeared while on bail after being arrested and accused of taking part in a £53 million heist in February 2006, the biggest in UK history.

British police believe he may have travelled to northern Cyprus, thinking it a safe place in which to launder up to £32 million worth of stolen cash.

But Soyer said the allegations that Lupton had laundered the money in the north were not true and that he had never set foot in the ‘TRNC’.

He said British police had gone to the north to investigate and that it had been proven that there was no link with the ‘TRNC’.

Five of Lupton’s accomplices were given hefty jail sentences at the Old Bailey on Monday for the theft, in which a Securitas depot manager, his wife and seven year-old daughter, as well as 14 Securitas staff, were trussed up as the gang made off with £53 million in cash. It is said the gang were forced to leave behind a further £153 million because it would not fit in the 7.5 ton truck being used for the heist.

Following the robbery, nearly all of the gang members were arrested and £21 million of the cash recovered from locations in south east London and Kent. Lupton, however, remains at large, with British police saying they believe “some of the money may have gone with Lupton to northern Cyprus”.

Lupton’s wife says she believes he is dead.