From safe-cracking to arms-dealing and coup-causing, David Tomkins has spent 40 wild years fighting other people’s wars for money – and thrills. You honestly couldn’t make it up

Storyville has long provided must-see documentaries – and Dogs of War, the astonishing tale of David Tomkins, a mercenary and arms dealer (“legal and illegal”), is yet another. For 40 years, Tomkins fought other people’s wars for money. His career, which began in Angola in the 1970s, took him to almost every global conflict hotspot of the late 20th century.

This is such an extraordinary tale that even the brief montages that flash up the countries in which Tomkins operated – Kuwait in 1981, Nigeria in 1982, Lebanon in 1983, Iraq, Iran, Syria and beyond – are thrilling, a time capsule of geopolitical manoeuvring. The film asks questions about justice and repentance, the mercenary industry in general and Tomkins’ moral compass.