Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Hates Rich People // The Stephen Jackley Story

Episode Date: July 23, 2026

Stephen Jackley is a British former geography student who became known as a "modern-day Robin Hood" after executing a series of armed bank robberies in the UK between 2007 and 2008.

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He's kind of a loner, a total outsider, he barely talks to anyone. He also likes to get high and drunk all the time. He's also on the spectrum, so that's fun. But none of that is what drives him. What drives him is he really, really doesn't like rich people or capitalism. He feels like it's a corrupt, unfair system, and he wants to raise 100,000 pounds to give to the needy. But, Jackly, he doesn't have that kind of money. So one day in 2007, he decides he's going to become a real-life Robin Hood, and he's going to start by robbing banks.

So he gets to work on this plan. He chooses a bank, and he gets a plastic BB gun that looks really. and he puts on a ridiculous blonde wig and big sunglasses, then he heads over to a local bank. When he gets there, the bank is closed, because it's after hours. But he sees a mailman who literally is just there to collect the bank's mail, and boom, he corners this guy,

and he points his BB gun at him like, let me in the bank, because the mailman has access to the security door. Now, keep in mind, this disguise he's got on is not intimidating at all. He just kind of looks silly. So this mailman doesn't take him seriously, and he's like, no. And bam, he tries to grab the gun out of Jackley's hands, and they struggle. And the mailman quickly realizes this isn't a real gun.

So he gets even more aggressive. Then Jackly pulls out a knife, and he slashes the mailman right across the chest. And from there, Jackly kind of panics at all this chaos, and he runs away from the scene. So that failed. But he's not going to. give up. He's determined to be a modern-day Robin Hood. So the next day he goes to a betting shop that's closed and he's wearing a bala-clava and he's armed with a knife and a hammer. And boom, he breaks into the shop. Now some of the staff are still there counting up the cash at the end of the

shift and he forces the deputy manager to dump 886 pounds into his bag and he flees the scene and he gets away. And that robbery actually worked. So, So he decides he's going to do it again. And about a month later he goes to another bedding shop, pretending to be a regular normal customer, and he goes in the bathroom and he hides there until the end of the day when the shop is closing. Once he's sure all the customers are gone and the place is nearly empty, he puts on a balaclava and kaboom he busts out of the bathroom and he's got a knife and a fake gun. And one of the employees sees him and freaks out and runs out of the building screaming for help.

Jackley steals 530 pounds and he flees. Now Jackly he actually does start giving some of the stolen money to the need. But before he does while he's at home he takes a pen and he writes R.H. for Robin Hood on a bunch of the stolen bills so that people know the money came from him. Then he goes out to the freezing streets and he hands these bills out to homeless people all through the night. But like he doesn't hand out all of it. Like he has this whole plan to give away 60% to people in need and keep the other 40% for himself. So his Robin Hood act isn't entirely all that selfless. He's actually making some money for himself too. Anyway, next, he's going to try robbing another bank. So at night time,

when the bank is closed, he breaks into the building. But as he's trying to make his way to the actual bank, he finds this heavy metal security door blocking his way down into the actual bank vault. So, ultimately, he can't get into the vault. And this pisses him off. In fact, he gets so mad that he starts trashing these offices connected to the building. And he's like throwing shit around and he's tearing the whole place apart, which causes thousands of pounds worth of property damage. But what old Robin Hood doesn't realize is that these offices, don't actually belong to the adjoining bank. They actually belong to a children's charity.

And so later, he finds out that he unknowingly destroyed the offices of Britain's biggest children's charity, and he feels extremely guilty. I mean, he didn't mean to target a charity? This goes against his whole Robin Hood mission. So he immediately mails the charity, an envelope containing 250 pounds cash, and a letter apologizing for destroying their office. And from here, Jack Lee really wants to make things right. So he promises himself that he's going to rob a few banks,

and then he'll use the money that he gets to pay the charity 25,000 pounds. And that should more than cover the damages. So he gets ready for another heist, and he gets his fake gun and his ridiculous wig and his sunglasses, and he heads over to another bank, and I guess this time that bank is open. So he goes inside, and he points his fake gun at one of the employees, and he's like, give me all the loot. And she hands over 4,830 pounds, and he takes it and he flees.

So Jackly got away with it again. And he's super excited this time. I mean, this is his biggest score yet. So over the next few months, he continues to rob a few more banks. And afterwards, he donates the money to charities and directly to homeless people. And he also tries to keep his promise to that kid's charity he destroyed by mailing them envelopes of cash, whenever he can't.

But then, Jack Lee runs into a problem. He's collecting a bit of cash from these robberies, but he's still falling way short of his 100,000-pound goal, and he feels like it's because the people he robs aren't afraid of him enough. And he suspects it's because his fake gun

looks a little too fake. And the only way for him to step up his game is to get a real one. However, in the UK, a random dude can't just go and like buy a handgun. So he tries to buy one on the black market. And he ends up getting scammed out of his money. So then he tries researching his options online.

And he discovers that it's pretty easy to get a gun in the United States, specifically in states like Vermont, which has very relaxed gun laws. So he hops on a plane and he flies straight over to Boston. And from there he heads up to Vermont and he visits a gunshot. And there he claims to be an American citizen and he uses a forged ID card and he inquires about buying a Glock. And it kind of looks like he might actually get away with this. Until. Until it becomes obvious that he's not really an American.

I mean, he's at the very least faking his accident. So I imagine his English is all fucked up like, I would like one Glock, please, in it. And like so the clerk can tell that something is very off about this guy. Plus his ID is very clearly a fake. So he low-key calls the police. And Jackly quickly realizes what's happening and he panics and he runs back to his rental car and skr-he speeds away. But pretty quickly the police catch up to him and bam, they arrest him.

Here's a picture of him. And ultimately he goes to prison in the United States for his a year for the illegal gun purchase attempt. Then he sent back to England where he's sentenced to 13 years in prison. Then later, after he gets out of prison, he starts a

charity book publishing company where they help authors from disadvantaged backgrounds by mentoring them and getting their books published. So in a way, you could say that he was ultimately able to fulfill his dream of becoming a... Recently, our company's softball team

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