McAvoy, dubbed ‘The Nutter’, was part of the criminal gang which stole £26million worth of gold ingots, diamond and cash in the ‘crime of the century’ after raiding the warehouse at Heathrow Airport in 1983.

The career criminal, who was known as one of the country’s  most prolific and violent armed robbers, played a major role in one of the largest bullion heists in British history.

McAvoy had suffered from cancer and passed away on New Year’s Eve at his Bromley flat in south east London, where he lived alone, the Sun reports.

Police had long suspected McAvoy was still active in criminal circles during his time in prison, with one informant suggesting he was involved in a drug-smuggling plot.

In his last days, McAvoy was said to have been struggling financially after devoting himself to caring for his ailing wife, Kathy who died from cancer just six months ago.

The pair wed in prison in 1987, three years after McAvoy was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for his role in the Brink’s-Mat robbery.

At the time of his most lucrative crime, McAvoy was just 30, and the youngest of the gang of six robbers who masterminded the Brink-Mat heist on November 26, 1983.

McAvoy used his painting and decorator career as a front, but was known to Scotland Yard and was even part of their 20-strong database on London’s most prolific armed robbers.

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