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The Unusual Suspect

How to Rob a Bank and (Nearly) Get Away with It

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The Unusual Suspect

By: Ben Machell
Narrated by: David Linski
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About this listen

Stephen Jackley was a young British geography student with Asperger's syndrome. When the global financial crisis hit in 2007, he became obsessed with the idea of Robin Hood. With no prior experience, he resolved to become a bank robber. He would steal from the rich and give to the poor. Against all likelihood, his plan actually worked.

Jackley used disguise, elaborate escape routes and replica pistols to successfully hold up a string of banks, making away with thousands of pounds. He committed 10 robberies in Southwest England over a six-month period. Bank notes marked with 'RH' - 'Robin Hood' - began finding their way into the hands of the homeless. The police, despite their concerted efforts, had no idea what was going on or who was responsible. That is until Jackley's ambition got the better of him.

This is his story.

©2021 Ben Machell (P)2021 Random House Audio True Crime Banking Robbery

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Critic reviews

"Meet Stephen: university student, bank robber, modern Robin Hood, human being. He was only good at one of them, thankfully it was the only one that mattered. A truly remarkable story." (Terry Hayes, author of I Am Pilgrim)

"Stephen Jackley, the 'Robin Hood' bank robber, is an Asperger's student with an incredible, increasingly dark, story, which Machell tells with Hollywood box-office wit, compassion and brio. With every page, you find yourself screaming 'Oh my god - what are you doing, Stephen?', all the way to him ending up in US jail. How one young British man's misguided plan to save the world went increasingly, dangerously wrong." (Caitlin Moran, author of How to Be a Woman)
All stars
Most relevant
I’m so pleased that I chose to listen to this book whilst on my daily dog walking duties over the past week. The construction of the storyline had me riveted and eagerly looking forward to where, and how, we were going next. Ben Machell you’ve written a superb true story about a very intricate, interesting yet extremely troubled young man.
I worked in law enforcement for 35 yrs, the majority of which was spent hunting down and locking up the bad guys. Very early on in career I remember a Senior Detective telling me that no two criminal minds think the same or are the same. How true that was for me and how true for the investigators who were trying to identify Stephen Jackley.
Excellently narrated by David Linski.

What a fantastic and fascinating listen

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Its a good story but the timeline jumps around so its hard to follow at times.

Jumps about

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This isn’t a drama it’s an account of real events - so the accents and ‘voices” were not necessary, I found them very distracting.
The story is very padded out.
Did not enjoy it.

Found it very hard to listen to. Narrator rubbish.

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After deciding to take a gamble in this book I was glad that I did. A very interesting story well written and narrated. A few editing issues I thought, which makes it seem like there are two narrators tag teaming their way through the story, but it doesn't distract from the narrative. All in all very enjoyable.

An interesting story

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This is a fascinating story which is let down by this audio recording. There are two narrators - or it is the same narrator but recorded at different times (as a result it feels like two different people). The second voice (which is noticeably different to the main narrator) interjects with a sentence here and there, with the effect of jarring you out of the experience of listening. There are times where the second voice even sound like it is computer generated. It really makes it difficult to listen to and spoils the enjoyment of this audio book.

A great story let down by a poor audio performance

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