Jack Lowden heads out on a dog walk with girlfriend Saoirse Ronan

Jack Lowden and his girlfriend Saoirse Ronan wrapped up for the cold weather as they head out on a dog walk in London on Friday.  

The Scottish actor, who is set to star in BBC crime drama The Gold, donned a long navy coat and jeans during the outing.

The 32-year-old completed the ensemble with a pair of brown boots and carried the dogs lead.

Meanwhile, Saoirse looked effortlessly chic in a grey coat and a matching flat cap, with a dark green top and trousers underneath.  

Jack and Saoirse were taking a break from their busy work schedules to enjoy some downtime walking their terrier Fran.

The pair have been dating for at least three years after meeting on the set of the 2018 movie Mary Queen of Scots, in which Saoirse played the title role and Lowden was her husband, Lord Darnley.

Jack is set to star in the upcoming BBC Drama The Gold which follows the decades-long chain of events that followed what has been described as ‘the crime of the century’.

The story is set in November 1983, when six armed men broke into the Brink’s-Mat security depot near London’s Heathrow Airport and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth £26 million.

Much of the three tonnes of stolen gold has never been recovered and four of the suspects were not convicted.

The disposal of the bullion was among the largest international money laundering operations of the time and left a string of killings in its wake.

In 1985 Detective Constable Fordham went to Kenneth Noye’s mansion to investigate his involvement in the money laundering after the robbery.

After entering the grounds, DC Fordham disturbed Noye’s rottweilers which attracted the attention of Noye who stabbed him to death.

The gangster, who passed away earlier this month aged 71, was cleared of murder after a jury accepted his claim that he had acted in self-defence. 

Cosy: The Scottish actor, who is set to star in BBC crime drama The Gold, donned a long navy coat and jeans during the outing

Outing: Jack and Saoirse were taking a break from their busy work schedules to enjoy some downtime walking their terrier Fran

Casual: The 32-year-old completed the ensemble with a pair of brown boots and carried the dogs lead

He was jailed for 14 years in July 1986 for handling stolen gold bullion, and was freed in 1994.

In 1996 – while Noye was out on licence from prison – he stabbed Stephen Cameron, 21, to death on an M25 slip road near Swanley, Kent.

After the attack, Noye fled to Spain where he lived under a false name until his arrest in 1998. When he was convicted of murder in 2000 he was given a life sentence with a minimum of 16 years.

He served nearly 20 years in prison for the murder, which took place in front of Mr Cameron’s 17-year-old fiancée Danielle Cable.

Noye was released in 2019 after it was decided he no longer posed a risk. He was last pictured in Kent in 2020.

Couple: The pair have been dating for at least two years after meeting on the set of the 2018 movie Mary Queen of Scots, in which Saoirse played the title role and Lowden was her husband, Lord Darnley

Looking good: Saoirse looked effortlessly chic in a grey coat and a matching flat cap, with a dark green top and trousers underneath

New role: Jack is set to star in the upcoming BBC Drama The Gold which follows the decades-long chain of events that followed what has been described as ‘the crime of the century’

The Brink’s Mat heist: How robbers pulled off the ‘crime of the century’

Shortly after 6.40am on November 26, 1983, six armed men in balaclavas – including one wearing a Trilby – entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport. 

The property belonged to security company Brink’s Mat and the robbers were there because they knew there was £3million in cash in the vault. They knew because their inside man, security guard Anthony Black, had told them. He even opened the door of the warehouse to let them in.

Led by Black’s brother-in-law, Brian Robinson, and Trilby-clad Michael ‘Micky’ McAvoy, the gang tied up the guards and poured petrol over them, threatening to light it if they didn’t comply.

Thanks to Black, they were able to identify the two most senior guards who, between them, held the keys and combination numbers for the vault where three safes were located.

Inside was more than three tonnes of gold bullion. Packed into more than 70 cardboard boxes were almost 7,000 gold bars. Someone had to fetch the van.

Weighed down by a heap of gold, the van idled its way out of Heathrow after one of the robbers wished the security guards a merry Christmas.  

It didn’t take the police long to connect Black to the raid and he soon implicated Robinson and McAvoy (who punched Black when he went to identify him in a police line-up).

Shortly after 6.40am on November 26, 1983, six armed men in balaclavas – including one wearing a Trilby – entered a warehouse at Heathrow airport

The pair hadn’t exactly laid low after the robbery, spending cash on property in Kent. It was rumoured McAvoy had bought two rottweilers to protect his new home and named them Brinks and Mat.

The two were later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Black was sentenced to six years. Stealing the gold had been relatively easy. The bigger challenge was selling it.

The robbers turned to crime boss Kenneth Noye, who, along with another criminal, Brian Reader, handled the gold. It was regularly taken to a smelting company near Bristol where it was mixed with copper and brass to look like scrap gold.

About £13millon-worth was disposed of in this way. The movement of cash through a local bank soon aroused the suspicion of the Bank of England and surveillance operations of known villains began.

Noye appeared in court in 1986 after police found 11 gold bars worth £100,000 on his premises. He was found guilty of handling the Brink’s Mat gold and was sentenced to 14 years in prison. 

A younger Noye will be played by Jack Lowden while DC Fordham will be played by Hadley Fraser.

Inspired by research and interviews with some of those involved in the events, show bosses describe The Gold as ‘a pulsating dramatisation which takes a journey into a 1980s world awash with cheap money and loosened morals’.

The cast also includes Charlotte Spencer from The Duke, Tom Cullen from Black Mirror, Guilt actor Emun Elliott and Sean Harris from Southcliffe and Mission: Impossible.

The Gold will air across six episodes on BBC One and Paramount+ globally.

Starring role: Jack plays gangster Kenneth Noye in the upcoming BBC drama The Gold

In the works: Hugh Bonneville stars as DCI Brian Boyce in the drama, which will air across six episodes on BBC One