Defined by Thatcherism, shoulder pads, and double denim, and soundtracked by Wham!, 1980s London was a unique place. An era that could be measured in as much grit as glamour, much of Britain – reeling from the aftermath of the 1982 Falklands war, continuous miners’ strikes, mass unemployment, and Thatcher’s controversial privatisation policies – skimped and struggled. 

Unsurprising, then, that the 1980s saw an epidemic of crime and gangs. Quiz anyone on their knowledge of London’s criminal underworld during that decade and they’d soon reel off names like the Kray twins, the Arifs, the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate and the Hunt syndicate – all, of course, run by men. So, when Joan Hannington arrived on the scene she redefined what it was to be a crime boss – and her story has now been immortalised in ITV series Joan. 

Hidden under enormous shoulder pads and a blur of bleach blonde hair, Joan Hannington, who would go on to be dubbed the ‘Godmother’ of London’s criminal network, was one of the world’s most notorious jewel thieves. Her story epitomes the rag to riches trope, having been born in 1957 to an Irish working class family and raised as one of six in London’s East End. Her childhood was brutal, marked by physical and emotional abuse, and led her to dream of a life outside of poverty. At four years old, she recalled being gifted a glass-stone bracelet by an aunt that emulated the appearance of diamonds, and it changed everything. “For the first time in my life I had something beautiful that was all mine,” Hannington told The Sun. “That night, I dreamed of ­having money and diamonds. That gift was the inspiration that set me on the path to great riches . . . illegally.”

Her criminal journey, however, didn’t start until she finally fled her violent father – who, at one point, tried to drown Hannington and her siblings in a bath – at just 13. Four years later, she married convicted armed robber Ray Pavey and the ill-fated couple had a daughter, Debbie (renamed Kelly in the ITV drama), who was swiftly swept into foster care. It was this event that triggered Hannington’s criminal career, as she embarked on a mission to earn enough money to get her daughter back by faking references to land a job at an exclusive jewellery store in west London. 

She told The Sun: “I was determined to get Debbie back but I needed money and a place to live. One day, I was sent to the safe at the back of the shop, where the CCTV cameras didn’t operate, to ­collect some loose diamonds. I opened the safe and trays of brilliant white stones glittered back at me. My heart galloping, I realised the chance to make some instant money and regain custody of Debbie was ­staring me right straight in the face.” 

Her trick? Swallowing diamonds. Having ingested them, she would use an olive oil laxative before sterilising them in a bowl of gin. Before long Hannington was secretly in possession of £800,000 – and that was just the beginning. As she wrote in her 2002 book, I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain's Most Notorious Jewel Thief: "Best bank in the world is your tummy. Best safety-deposit box invented."

Soon after swallowing her first handful of diamonds, Hannington began selling them through a network of dealers, including one Ronald Thomas Hannington. An antiques dealer and master thief, the pair would go on to not only marry, but become some of London’s best partners in crime. Going by the name Boisie – played by Frank Dillan in Joan – Ronald taught Hannington to differentiate fakes and authentic antiques at auctions, and filled her poky council flat with prized oil paintings and luxurious chaise longues. 

Sophie Turner as Joan Hannington alongside Frank Dillan as Boisie

“We had several millions going through our hands,” Hannington wrote in her book. “That’s not a lot of money in this day and age, nothing on the drug deal. But in the 1980s we were among those early criminals to be in the millionaire league without getting it over the pavement.” Working closely with Boisie, Hannington would dress up in all manner of disguises, sometimes affecting an American accent and draped in a fur coat, to commit her crimes – but despite earning millions, and splashing out on trips to New York and The Ritz, she couldn’t regain custody of Debbie. 

Leading a double life, Joan Hannington would often visit jewellery shops and ask to look at diamond rings, before getting a cheap replica made based on memory, returning to the shop counter, faking a sneeze and switching the real jewels with a fake duplicate. The lack of CCTV in the 1980s ensured Hannington’s plan worked like a charm and, despite a shop assistant once catching her with four rings in her mouth, mostly went off without a hitch. 

Even when she was arrested in 1980 aged 24, it wasn’t for her diamond-fuelled escapades, but for being in possession of a stolen cheque book. Sentenced to 30 months in Holloway Prison, she quickly married Boisie at Acton Register Office before going inside. Her time spent in prison didn’t deter her ambitions though, and upon release, Hannington astonishingly bagged another job at a jewellery shop where she consumed another 20 diamond rings and £400,000 worth of bracelets. 

“My marriage to [Boisie] was supposedly what the Eighties were all about,” Hannington told The Sun. “Fast cars, fast living, Michael ­Jackson at the top of the charts, Dallas and Dynasty on the TV. I loved the glamour of that period. Our flat only cost £27,110 from the council, yet we had about £1 million of gear in there.”

It was an enviable life, and yet no one around Joan Hannington suspected a thing. But the birth of her son Benny – a musician who now goes by the moniker Benny Banks – in 1987 sparked a change, also spurred on by the death of her beloved Boisie, who was killed when an attempt to set fire to a house to claim insurance money went wrong. Then 33, Hannington changed tack and against the odds – and incidents including close encounters with gun men and heroin addicts – escaped the criminal underworld unscathed and moved to Islington to flip ex-council houses. “I feel no guilt for my crimes. I saw myself as a businesswoman and mother. I did it to ensure a good life for me and my family,” she wrote in her book. 

“Job satisfaction isn’t a crime,” says Sophie Turner in her role as Hannington in the trailer for the six-part series – and it’s clear the real-life jewel thief took said satisfaction quite seriously. Today, Hannington still suffers from ulcers as a result of years of swallowing diamonds but, unbelievably, her crimes never really caught up with her, and the now 68-year-old grandmother resides on the south coast with her two dogs. She never made contact with Debbie again, and that’s something Turner – who is going through her own divorce proceedings and custody battle – holds close to her heart. “Sometimes when you’re doing a show like this, and it’s ‘heisty’ and there’s diamonds and glamour, you get swept away by it,” she said at a press conference promoting Joan. “You have to remember this was all to provide a stable life for her daughter. It’s really heartbreaking.”

Joan is available to stream on ITVX now. 

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