Retired detective gave talk at charity lunch over how he caught Brink's-Mat villain Kenneth Noye - only to discover he was in the audience
Ian Brown, 86, played a key role in solving the infamous £26million heist in 1983 - which has been dramatised for BBC show The Gold over the last two years - in the months after it took place.
The officer was tasked with tracking the 6,800 gold bars after they were transported to the US and Caribbean.
Mr Brown did not personally arrest Noye but he established him as a suspect following his investigation into one of the UK's most expensive robberies.
But years later, the former Detective Superintendent came face to face with his adversary once again while giving a seemingly innocuous lecture at a Kent golf club.
Officials at the venue took him off stage after learning of Noye's appearance in the crowd.
Mr Brown told Sky News: 'I go outside and they say "he's here" and I say "who's here" and they say "that table over there in the corner, that's Kenny Noye with a baseball cap pulled down over his head".'
He added that there were deep discussion about how to respond to the presence of gangster, who stabbed an undercover policeman to death during the Brink's-Mat probe before using a knife to murder motorist Stephen Cameron 11 years later.
'I said "are you serving food? Well, just use plastic knives",' the ex-cop joked.
Eventually, Mr Brown went over to Noye and asked why he had shown up to a discussion about how he had killed undercover officer DC John Fordham in 1985 after finding him hiding in the grounds of his 20-acre estate in West Kingsdown, Kent.
The villain was acquitted of murder in this instance but was jailed for handling the gold stolen in the Brink's-Mat robbery, before later being jailed for the stabbing of Mr Cameron.
The former policeman added: 'And he said "I want to make sure you don't say I've been dealing drugs" and I said 'I've never said that Kenny".'
Mr Brown insisted he would not be adjusting his presentation just because Noye was in the crowd.
The gangster said he completely understood, and even offered to make an appearance on the stage with the ex-cop.
It wasn't the first time the pair had come face to face, with Noye famously conducting an ill-fated TV interview with Mr Brown years before.
The officer was left frustrated following the discussion as the villain repeatedly insisted he was not involved in the Brink's-Mat heist.
The segment was never broadcast as prison authorities said Noye had breached his parole, even threatening to send him back to jail.
The Gold has recently returned to screens for a second season but Mr Brown added that he had been left less than impressed by the show.
He argued that the already enthralling story had been unnecessarily dramatised and that some characters had been completely made up.
Mr Brown was also frustrated that he could not work out who was supposed to be playing him in the series.
Noye was convicted in 1986 of handling stolen gold after 11 bullion bars were recovered from his home.
He was jailed for 14 years and fined £500,000 and ordered to pay £200,000 costs, and served eight years behind bars.
After being released, Noye then stabbed 21-year-old Mr Cameron to death on an M25 slip road in 1996 and was sentenced to life with a minimum of 16 years behind bars, before being released in 2019.
The former gangster is separated from his wife Brenda Tremain, with whom he has two adult sons, Kevin and Brett.
Noye was arrested after Stephen's girlfriend Danielle Cable, who witnessed the killing, was secretly taken by British police to Spain and identified Noye from a distance in a restaurant.
He was extradited back to Britain in May 1999 and Miss Cable bravely gave evidence against Noye at the Old Bailey the following year.
He was found guilty of murder and jailed for life.
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