1990. In the midst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, four masked men seize an elderly Lord in his home. Tying him up, they carry out an audacious £1m antiques heist – still reputed to be the biggest ever in Northern Ireland.

Then they flee in a car and van. Rewards are offered, but to no avail. The gang – and the valuable antiques – are gone.

A year later, the Lord’s son will disappear, lost at sea in Rhodes, Greece. Before he does, he reportedly sends a mysterious letter to Ireland. In it, a chart with strange markings and an even stranger message …

Yet none of this is ever solved. Or even much remembered. Why?

In this series former BBC reporter Gordon Adair, and podcast producer Ophelia Byrne, set out to find out. The story takes them on a rollercoaster ride, from paramilitary gangs to the Dublin underworld, and from island Greece to the glittering showrooms of the art and antiques world.

Along the way, they explore how grassroots crime meets high end wealth – and how, far from a victimless crime, criminals seek to exploit the huge global trade in art, antiquities and other cultural objects to fuel serious criminal activity.

1990. In the midst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, four masked men seize an elderly Lord in his home. Tying him up, they carry out an audacious £1m antiques heist – still reputed to be the biggest ever in Northern Ireland.

Then they flee in a car and van. Rewards are offered, but to no avail. The gang – and the valuable antiques – are gone.

A year later, the Lord’s son will disappear, lost at sea in Rhodes, Greece. Before he does, he reportedly sends a mysterious letter to Ireland. In it, a chart with strange markings and an even stranger message …

Yet none of this is ever solved. Or even much remembered. Why?

In this series former BBC reporter Gordon Adair, and podcast producer Ophelia Byrne, set out to find out. The story takes them on a rollercoaster ride, from paramilitary gangs to the Dublin underworld, and from island Greece to the glittering showrooms of the art and antiques world.

Along the way, they explore how grassroots crime meets high end wealth – and how, far from a victimless crime, criminals seek to exploit the huge global trade in art, antiquities and other cultural objects to fuel serious criminal activity.

In November 1938 Jewish shops and businesses are brutally attacked in several days of pogroms in what became known as Kristillnacht. Charles’ position of trying to build good relations with the Nazi leadership now becomes untenable. He has a bruising showdown with his cousin, Winston Churchill, at a social event in London. In private, he acknowledges that he has failed in his efforts to be an architect of peace like his illustrious ancestor, Lord Castlereagh. World War Two begins in September 1939 and Charles and Edith go back to Mount Stewart in County Down. But it follows them to the shores of Strangford Lough as German bombers target Newtownards Airfield in 1941, killing 13 air cadets - mainly young men. Charles attends the funeral of one of them, realising that the war he struggled to avoid is now a reality. He uses his skills as a pilot to help train young men in flying but in 1945 he is involved in a near-fatal glider accident. The war ends in victory - but Charles’ health is in decline. He is asked to give written evidence by the defence team for Joachim von Ribbentrop at the Nuremberg trials. The Nazi Minister for Foreign Affairs claims he always tried to steer Hitler towards a more limited war. Ten years on from the Ribbentrop’s visit to Mount Stewart, Charles gives scrupulously accurate evidence which does not corroborate the Nazi’s claims of being a peace-maker. A death sentence is passed and Ribbentrop dies by a lengthy hanging. Charles himself dies three years later, aged 70 and is buried at Mount Stewart in the family plot, Tír Na nÓg - ‘the land of youth’. Striking up personal relationships with Nazi leadership had come to define his legacy. It had caused huge turmoil in his life but now, finally, he is at peace.