The Real Notorious: Lee Murray breaks silence

Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to Sign Up today.
Sign up
T

The Big Guy

Guest
The Real Notorious: Lee Murray breaks silence from Moroccan jail — Part 1: The Bank Job

Lee Murray, a UFC veteran known as the alleged mastermind of the biggest cash heist in British history, opens up in a rare interview with Elliot Worsell

Chad Stanhope
“Free Lee Murray.”

That’s what people used to say, even if they didn’t necessarily mean it, almost a decade ago. It somehow found its way on to T-shirts and website forums and became one of those cult, iconic MMA phrases that meant a lot to only a few. It signified a place and time. You had to be there.


Today, however, it represents merely the passing of time. The sport has changed, moved on, grown up, and ‘Lightning’ Lee Murray, one-time UFC middleweight, still hasn’t been set free. In fact, he’s exactly where he was back then, at least geographically, and continues to wonder how old he’ll be when he can finally leave his Moroccan prison, roam without handcuffs and sit down on a toilet seat. Now 40 years of age, if growing up is different to getting old, he too will say he has grown up.

His sudden willingness to speak, meanwhile, is information you receive second hand, transferred in the dead of night, almost said in a whisper. (Pssst, pass it on, Lee Murray’s ready to talk.) But it’s true all the same and what it means is this: Lee Murray is going to do an interview and you’re going to be the one conducting it. Moreover, circumstances dictate that there will be a strict protocol to follow, the questions will have to be predominantly mixed martial arts-related and they must – absolutely must – be approved by the prison.

What you aren’t told is that a Lee Murray interview will take months and months to complete and that 61 questions will eventually produce an initial word count in excess of 15,000. Then again, even if you were informed of this, nothing would change. You would still wait, patiently, expectantly, and do so because, after all, you’re waiting for Lee Murray and adhering a process – a long, painstaking process – until its bitter end.

Time passes, though. Murray, the man with the stopwatch, knows this, just as he knows June 25 marked 12 years since he was locked away in a Moroccan jail for his role in the £53 million Securitas depot robbery in 2006.


February 25 2006: A police forensic officer inspects money cages that were used to store banknotes that were stolen from the Securitas Depot in Tonbridge Kent. The raid on the depot is believed to be the biggest cash robbery in history.
Photo by John Stillwell - Pool/Getty Images
In that period, there have been different prisons, as well as faint hope of a reduced 25-year sentence. But, for now, that’s all it is: the hope is never more than faint. Still Murray lives alone and still he lives off an almost mythical reputation that precedes him both on the streets of London, where he remains a word best left unsaid, and in the world of mixed martial arts, where he’s just as famous for doing unspeakable things to Tito Ortizoutside a nightclub as he is going three rounds with Anderson Silva in a cage.

Folklore to one side, Lee Murray is real. Real in every sense of the word. He isn’t a figment of our dark, twisted imagination, nor something MMA purists created in order to show the sport’s younger audience just how soft today’s athletes masquerading as professional fighters actually are. He’s polarising, no doubt. Certainly dangerous. But he’s real, for whatever that’s worth, and in an age of widespread sanitisation and political correctness, sometimes, just sometimes, it’s good to consult one of the sport’s mavericks to readdress the balance, remember how wild and uncouth things used to be, and ultimately discover what drives someone halfway through a sentence that could mean they’re locked away for a quarter of a century.

Lee Murray’s not giving up. That much is clear. He’s not giving up the fight for freedom, he’s not giving up hope of seeing his four children, and he’s not giving up the dream of one day fighting again, either. He wants you to know that. He also wants you to know plenty of other stuff, too, because 12 years a prisoner, in the wrong sort of cage, can leave a man with a lot on his mind and a lot he wishes to get off his chest.


Lee Brahim Lamrani Murray, despite the T-shirts, still isn’t free. You can find him here: Ecrou 1163, Prison locale de Tiflet 2, Tiflet, Morocco.

Regrettably, it’s the place he calls home.

Bloody Elbow: What are the three things you think about daily?

Lee Murray: Well, the first thing would have to be freedom. Without that, nothing else is possible. The next would be my family, and the third would be fighting again.

BE: How would you describe a typical day in the life of Lee Murray?

LM: At this present time, I can’t describe to you what a typical day in my life is like. But maybe one day I will be able to answer that question for you. You’ll probably fall back in your chair and say to yourself, “How the f—k did he do it?”

BE: What do you do to pass the time?

LM: I train. That’s all you can do. I train and try to get as fit and strong as possible, so I’m always ready to fight.

BE: What is your favorite film?

LM: There’s an ESPN documentary about me on the net and in this documentary they said my top three films were Gotti, Scarface and The Bank Job. But I had never even seen The Bank Job at the time of that documentary, so I don’t know where they got that from.

I would have to say Gotti and Scarface are definitely in my top 10, though. I can’t wait to see the new Gotti film I’ve heard about with John Travolta playing John Gotti.

My top three films to date are: 1. Heat; 2. Public Enemies; 3. The Town.

I am sure when they make the film about my life it will, without a doubt, be up there with them. I just need Michael Mann to get in touch with me so we can get the ball rolling and make the real Lee Murray story.

BE: What do you miss most about freedom?

LM: Spending time with my family and trying to catch up on some of the time that has been lost.

BE: Are you able to find happiness in your current situation?

LM: There’s no happiness where I am. But I suppose I can say I’m happy I’m still alive. I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on things in my past and really see where I went wrong in life. There have been times when I’ve been sitting in a room next to people with multiple death sentences and it’s then your problem seems very small. I’m still here to fight another day. Yes, it is tough – it’s tough as hell – but I suppose I’m lucky I’m a tough motherf—ker.

BE: Do you have any goals that keep you motivated?

LM: I still have that dream of being the UFC champion. That dream will never go all the time I’m breathing air. The biggest disappointment for me is that the dream would have come true if I wasn’t in prison. That’s the most gutting thing about it.

BE: Do you still follow fight sports?

LM: Yeah, for sure. My family and friends always keep me up to date with what’s going on.

The growth of MMA since 2006, when I entered prison, is amazing. If someone would have said to me back in 2006 that women will be big stars in MMA and earn millions of dollars, I would never have believed it. That just shows how much the sport has evolved.

BE: Who are your favorite fighters in MMA today?

LM: I like Gegard Mousasi. For me, he is the number one middleweight in the world. He is very well-rounded and can fight in every position. I used to keep my eye on him back in the day because there was always a chance I could end up fighting him. He has really come on, which I knew he would. You could tell he had the qualities to be a good fighter back then.


Michael Page, a Bellator star from London Shootfighters team
Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images

Also, Michael Page. Michael is from the same camp as me, London Shootfighters, and it’s a shame I am not there to train with him. He would have been perfect to spar back in 2004 when I was preparing for the Anderson Silva fight. I think Michael has the skills to become a great champion – not just in MMA but in boxing, too. He could become the first man to hold world titles in MMA and boxing.

I have to say Jon Jones as well. He is the best fighter on the planet, with or without steroids. He cleaned up the 205-pound division and needs to go up to heavyweight and take that belt.


BE: What is the last thing on your mind before you go to sleep at night?

LM: Freedom. That and being with my family and bringing home that UFC belt.

The Real Notorious: Lee Murray breaks silence from Moroccan jail — Part 1: The Bank Job
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,237
Is 'break silence' really an appropriate way of putting it? It's not like he's doing a Ronda Rousey and hiding his crying face from the media, he's sitting in a fucking Moroccan jail.
 

Robbie Hart

All Biden Voters Are Mindless Sheep
Feb 13, 2015
49,703
50,709
He needs to admit that Leigh @Leigh suplexed him once or twice back in the day......he didn’t realise it and leigh was completely in the wrong for not going in the ambulance with him (so unethical imo) but he didn’t learn the ground game until later in his short career
 

Robbie Hart

All Biden Voters Are Mindless Sheep
Feb 13, 2015
49,703
50,709
^^^^^forgot to add that it would have been outside a nightclub pavement and the unsuspecting victims never had a chance or knew what was coming as leigh was stalking victims outside the club
 

benjo0101

TMMAC Addict
Jun 13, 2016
6,452
7,106
Talk about dragging it out. 7 part series.

Journalism should be left to the professionals.

Some day I will be one of those professionals
 

Sheepdog

Protecting America from excessive stool loitering
Dec 1, 2015
8,912
14,237
Are you suggesting he didn't by that gif? Let's not forget he appealed his sentence and that added an additional 15 years to his sentence. Had he not been greedy, he'd have been released by now, despite how guilty he is.
 

Leigh

Engineer
Pro Fighter
Jan 26, 2015
10,925
21,293
He needs to admit that Leigh @Leigh suplexed him once or twice back in the day......he didn’t realise it and leigh was completely in the wrong for not going in the ambulance with him (so unethical imo) but he didn’t learn the ground game until later in his short career
I always got on with Lee. If you didn't piss him off, he was cool.
 

SongExotic2

ATM 3 CHAMPION OF THE WORLD. #FREECAIN
First 100
Jan 16, 2015
39,772
53,672
^^^^^forgot to add that it would have been outside a nightclub pavement and the unsuspecting victims never had a chance or knew what was coming as leigh was stalking victims outside the club
Change ur sn
 

Robbie Hart

All Biden Voters Are Mindless Sheep
Feb 13, 2015
49,703
50,709
I always got on with Lee. If you didn't piss him off, he was cool.
I watched that Anderson Silva weigh and I thought “I wish I could be his friend”.......he seems like a fun guy to be around
 

Papi Chingon

Domesticated Hombre
Oct 19, 2015
25,475
32,243
Have you followed the case at all? Murray fled to Morocco because his father was moroccan, and he would not be able to be extradited, plus be tried under moroccan law (if at all). He didn't believe the latter would happen, but it did. Once sentenced, he thought 10 years was too much time, so he appealed, and received an additional 15 years on top of his sentence. If he remained in the UK it would have been a much longer sentence, perhaps even life, but he chose morocco. Should he survive, chances are he has some of the unaccounted for money stashed somewhere ($40M usd still hasn't been found) and should live fairly well in morocco, but would never be able to leave the country.
 

Buff Bagginz

NO KNOWN WEAKNESSES
Nov 13, 2015
1,170
1,563
I await the day that Murray is set free and he could recoup his 40 million thats stashed away to use it to train and finally come back to the UFC. It has to happen.
 

aghof

an person
Apr 15, 2015
2,037
3,814
Talk about dragging it out. 7 part series.

Journalism should be left to the professionals.

Some day I will be one of those professionals
sure, but how could you possibly come up with such a unique, incisive, thoughtful list of questions?

"what's your favorite color?"
"do you sleep on you back or side?"
"if you were a tree, what kind would you be?"
 

Wild

Zi Nazi
Admin
Dec 31, 2014
85,004
123,330
Disappointed in the majority of these questions, to be honest. If you get access to Lee, I wish some more questions about what drove him to commit the heist, his journey after the crime was committed, etc. Hopefully those questions are posed in the other parts of this series.
 

Weidman's right nut

Conservative to the bone
Jul 6, 2015
644
883
Disappointed in the majority of these questions, to be honest. If you get access to Lee, I wish some more questions about what drove him to commit the heist, his journey after the crime was committed, etc. Hopefully those questions are posed in the other parts of this series.
It does say the prison officials had to authorize and OK any and all questions that were asked, they may not have allowed that line of questioning
 

kneeblock

Drapetomaniac
Apr 18, 2015
12,435
23,026
My favorite Lee Murray moment was when someone smuggled a cell phone into his cell and he used it to post on the UG.