How luxury cars, $500,000 bar tabs and a mysterious kidnapping attempt helped investigators unravel the heist of a lifetime.

Hussain had spent the past 10 years of his placing bets. Before the next 10 were up, he would lose more than £1m. That he had made it from his home in Gloucester to Bristol was an accomplishment.

"We're generally the cheapest or near enough: in fact, nine out of 10 Octopus customers pay less ... Naples for the best slice of pizza, Bologna for a hearty ragu, Sicily for seafood.