I cried when I was mugged. I wept like a baby. Described in the past as having a fearless demeanour and steely courage I happily admit to being a man of robust character -unlikely to emotionally collapse without due cause. But for some reason my mugging - I say my mugging - it was of course a shared experience - unleashed emotions and fears that I thought I had long buried from previous undercover work.

These emotions. enveloped me completely in the early hours of March 9th 2001.

Head clasped in my hands - my shoulders heaved up and down uncontrollably as tears fell onto the floor of the black cab which rescued me. My mugger, 5ft 8in, slim young black male in a hooded top walked calmly away. He strode to his partners home where his girlfriend and young child slept. The knife which encouraged me to flee at great speed from the second floor or the Myatt Field Estate off Brixton rd was replaced in the kitchen drawer.

He took the car and drove to a nearby `24 hour` underworld Fence to sell the computer he had stolen from me. There are any number of fences he could have taken it to but this particular one specialised in photographic, video and computers for export abroad. Gary Boothe (25) is striking looking in the flesh. A Tyson strip on his closely shaven head drew attention away from his streamlined high cheeks which in a certain light - certainly to me that night - resembled lengthy battle weary scars.

The Asian Fence engaged in a spit and saw dust bargaining- that was to be expected in this arrangement -  before agreeing on £350 for the stolen merchandise. For £350 Gary could afford a smoke of crack cocaine and pay back some of the money he owed other drug dealers. He was off his head when he mugged me and now was off his head again.

"I never gave you a seconds thought. It was a nice touch. The cash was short, my drug habit out of control and you came along - you were a great  hit- a good end to a bad day", he later told me.

As he chased the dragon with crack cocaine Boothe was not to know that the computer had a tracking device and recorder which a team of specialist surveillance operatives were tracking down. Using radio transmitters they listened into Gary opening the computer bag and driving off to the fence. The signal however was soon lost.

Gary also was unaware that I was wearing a secret camera and had recorded the entire robbery even catching the glint of his seven inch knife.  For three days my BBC1 team had tracked me wearing covert camera along well known crime choke points - well known mugging routes - in Brixton where the street crime was the highest in the country.

For three days the poor and dispossessed became the Good Samaritans and advised me where I should go and where was safe. They turned over and challenged the long held misconception that violence and street crime was all pervasive in that part of Lambeth.

Then when my phone was snatched by a young 15 year old (I l tracked it down  6 weeks later to Acra in Ghana) Gary Boothe offered to get it back. In truth he was intent on trying to roll me over. He - in his own words offered to be a Good Samaritan and for the first time in three days - the Good Samaritan lied.

"When my Aunt saw the show - she was sure that I too would be helpful and then she saw me pull the knife - She couldn't believe it". She knew the real Gary and thought it out of character. Gary has a long track record of petty crimes and a history of drug abuse. He was well known to the Brixton Police who considered him to be troublesome but likeable lad. His family and his partner are all law biding and all were shocked by his actions. They were off course far removed from his drug habit.

The purpose of the investigation was to find out who was mugging? Why and where were the goods stolen going?  In the subsequent investigation I learned a little about Gary but nothing close to the three dimensional picture that I really wanted. My investigation was inspired by a newspaper article my brother Darragh did while working at the New York Daily News. He was robbed at gun point by a fifteen year old Hispanic boy , Caesar Echevaria . Darragh tracked him and family down and was able to report the poor circumstances and troubled family life that drove his assailant to crime.

I was determined that despite the fear Gary had inspired in me and the hate I was likely to have inspired in him that we should meet and maybe draw something positive out of our unique confrontation.

My first contact with Gary was at knife point and my next was by the nib of a pen. Gary had pleaded guilty to the mugging and was given a harsh four year jail sentence. A letter written by me and read out in the High Court in front of Lord Wolf asked for leniency and a sentence reduction. Gary mugged me - in a television sting and while I was glad he pleaded guilty in Court and took responsibility for his actions - it was incumbent on me to take responsibility for mine and follow up on my investigation to find out why Gary did what he did and how he got into crime. That meant me confronting him about his actions face to face and confronting the guilt I felt on keeping Gary away from his child while he rested at her Majesty's pleasure in Brixton prison.

On Easter Sunday last year in the full glare of a glorious spring day a line of mother and children stood outside the security hut that processed visitors for HMP Brixton They were mostly smoking cigarettes and making small talk. The prison opened  for visiting at 2pm and Gary's child and partner met me in the queue. For some months,  Gary and I had corresponded and he waxed and waned about meeting up. Eventually he agreed to meet me - again - opening up the prospect of an unlikely alliance.

Gary`s partner, was unfailingly polite to me and encouraged the meeting despite obvious suspicions that her lover once fooled could be trapped again. I joined her and her son in the waiting line. We made our way, slowly, through the onerous security barriers.

To the disbelief and huge concern of prison wardens I made my way to meet Gary across a refectory table. The wardens were sure I must have been carrying secret cameras. But this was personal. There were no devicvesm just two men who last met with a knife between us.  We shook hands and his partner and their child sat back while Gary and I reacquainted ourselves with each other. 

I was shocked to see his child and his lover and to see them in these circumstances. My television programme had consequences beyond a conviction. A delightful and bouncy child was without a father and clearly missed him dearly. Maybe Gary would have been in prison for another offence ( he has a long record for petty and minor crimes) - whatever - I couldn't help feeling guilty for his separation. I may have felt this more poignantly because my own parents split up when I was the same age as Gary's son.

After a profoundly silent and prolonged two handed greeting Gary looked straight down the barrel at me and said; " you were very lucky I mugged you". Taken aback I asked him why?"I would never had stabbed you but I know plenty (of my mates) who would have". Having gotten to know him I believe those words. Prison was debilitating Gary. He in prison. He was drug free. And with the support of his girlfriend was determined to go straight.. " I am surrounded by people who come in and out of this place all the time and always leave with every intention of going straight. I know them and I know me and I will go straight", he promised.

"There were times when I hated you and there were times when I thought you ruined my life - on other times - I think I could have been dead because of the drugs - if we didn't meet in the way we did", he said. He was stoic and honest and respectful. We shared a sugared coffee before I let him, his lover and child spend the rest of the time allowed to reacquaint themselves with the family they once were.

I left, feeling resilient about my journalism but despondent about the inevitable human cost. There was some comfort from Gary's determination to take something positive from our `best of enemies` encounter. "I shouldn't have done what I did - and that why I pleaded guilty. I did the crime and knew that I would pay with a jail sentence".

When the show aired on BBC in April 2001 to five and a half million viewers Gary couldn't watch the television and was soon besieged by friends and family who berated him for his behaviour. Shortly afterwards, he turned up at Brixton Police station with an overnight bag - He knew he was not going home. Throughout his time in jail he became known as `Mac the Knife`. He still gets recognised now by people who saw the show.After our visit another letter arrived at my offices in West London. It was from G.Boothe HW4178 at HMP Brixton."It was very strange to see you after what happened on the night we first met. As soon as I saw you all the questions I had disappeared - I was numbed - I believe by the shame and the guilt of seeing you." He went on to say that he hoped that that day would be a turning point for him. I hope so too.

Gary was released in August last year but returned for another month in prison for breaking his curfew. He spent what he hopes will be his last days in jail in Bellmarsh Prison. Since he got out we walked the route of our `close encounter`. We shared each and every moment and explained our thought process throughout our 47 minute together. With some sadness and a lot of rye humour he described it as the longest mugging in history.

On the night he couldn't make up his mind whether I was a policeman or student and was worried that I looked like I could look after myself. "I couldn't make you out and so I thought I would scare you with the knife and it worked".

I would like to consider Gary a friend. We have built a trust and honesty between each other that only the best of enemies could share.  The moment that brought us together and set him apart from his family - has strangely bound me to him. Though the details of our first meeting were broadcast two years ago - the real story of our encounter has only just begun.. Gary Boothe and Donal Mac Intyre will be presenting a series of joint lectures to offenders, Police officers and youth groups about the dangers of drug abuse and the rehabilitation of offenders shortly.  Donal appears next on TV on Five on March 30th with `Mac Intyre's Big Sting` Tuesday 8pm.

By Donal MacIntyre
20 March 2004