The Unusual Suspect: The Rise and Fall of a Modern-Day Outlaw by Machell, Ben - Hardback

"The remarkable true story of a modern-day Robin Hood: a British college student who started robbing banks in the aftermath of the financial crisis. When the global financial crisis of 2007 hit, British college student Stephen Jackley decided to become a bank robber, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Against all likelihood, his plan actually worked. Jackley used disguises, elaborate escape routes, and fake guns to hold up a string of banks, making off with thousands of pounds. He committed ten robberies in Southwest England over a six-month period. After Jackley successfully hid his loot high up in the trees of nearby parks, bank notes marked "RH"--for 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. Eventually extradited from a U.S. prison after an arrest on American soil, and sent back to his native Britain, Jackley wrote of his fears for the world, humanity "standing on the brink of massive change," detailing his deeply revealing, morally complex motivations for the robberies. Resolving to rectify the damage he saw done at the hands of the world's richest people--one-fifth of the entire human population--he believed that our planet "could only endure so much destruction before being irreversibly destroyed." Woven throughout the narrative are entries from Jackley's many diaries, lending an intense intimacy and urgency to the story and shedding light on Stephen's mental state and the challenges he faced in his own mind and beyond"--

Ben Machell is a feature writer for The Times and The Times Magazine and a contributor to publications including VICE and Esquire. He has been shortlisted for Feature Writer of the Year at the British Press Awards. Ben has full and exclusive access to Stephen Jackley and his surviving diaries, as well as access to law enforcement and the key characters involved in Jackley's story on both sides of the Atlantic.