A gang who raided a vault in Hatton Garden over the 2015 Easter Bank Holiday, stealing around £14 million in gold and jewellery have been sentenced to a total of 34 years imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court today, Wednesday, 9 March.
Detective Superintendent Craig Turner, head of the Met’s Flying Squad, said: “This was an audacious burglary in the heart of London’s diamond district. The individuals responsible clearly thought they had got away with it. But thanks to meticulous and dogged detective work, they hadn’t.
My officers trawled CCTV from hundreds of cameras, piecing together the gang’s movements over the Bank Holiday weekend and tracing the white Mercedes which was a critical lead. The surveillance operation which followed linked each of the men to the gang and the crime, culminating in the arrest phase where four of them were caught red-handed with the stolen property.”
He continued: “The evidence gathered by my officers was so strong in fact; that four of the key conspirators pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, and another three were convicted when a jury returned a unanimous verdict in January this year.”
On the evening of Thursday, 2 April 2015, after staff had left 88-90 Hatton Garden, EC1 for the Easter Bank Holiday, a gang of thieves broke into Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd – a vault in the basement of the building. They managed to bypass alarms and force their way into the corridor outside the vault where they drilled three holes in the wall, creating a space big enough for a person to climb inside the vault. They were defeated by a bank of cabinets behind the vault wall when hydraulic equipment they brought with them failed to force them over.
Some of the gang returned on Saturday, 4 April 2015 having hired a replacement piece of equipment. This time they managed to force over the cabinets and get inside the vault where they broke into 73 safety deposit boxes and stole around £14 million worth of gold, silver, diamonds and jewellery.
On Tuesday, 7 April 2015, staff returning to Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd discovered the burglary, informed police and the Flying Squad investigation began.
A trawl of CCTV quickly identified the timings and therefore established the gang had returned to the scene a second time to complete the burglary. Further analysis of footage in and around the area led to the discovery of a white Mercedes saloon used by the gang to visit the area and check it was safe for them to return later that evening.
Painstaking police work traced the Mercedes to the home of one of the gang members and police surveillance did the rest. On 19 May 2015 Flying Squad officers carried out a raid on an address in Sterling Road, as four members of the gang came together to divide up the proceeds of the burglary.
Other suspects were arrested elsewhere.
Detective Superintendent Turner said: “To date we have recovered just under a third of the property and much of it has already been returned to the victims. We have also been responsible for putting all but one of the suspects behind bars.
“There will be some out there who have sympathy for these men believing this crime to be a bold heist where no-one got hurt. The truth is these men were career criminals who didn’t give a moments thought for the people they were stealing from.
He added: “For many of the victims these safety deposit boxes represented their livelihood. They put their most valuable property into the vault to keep safe during the bank holiday weekend only to see it cruelly snatched away.”
Three men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle, have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment each.
They are:-
Terry Perkins, 67 (04.04.48), a retired man of Heene Road, Enfield.John Collins, 75 (05.09.40), a retired man of Blestoe Walk, Islington.Daniel Jones, 59 (01.03.57), a retired man of Park Avenue, Enfield.
Brian Reader, 76 (28.02.39), a retired man of Dartford Road, Dartford will be sentenced at a later date.
Three other men were found guilty on Thursday, 14 January, at Woolwich Crown Court.
Hugh Doyle, 49 (28.02.67), a self-employed heating engineer of Riverside Gardens, Enfield was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment (suspended for two years) for concealing, converting or transferring criminal property.
William Lincoln, 60 (15.06.55), unemployed, of Winkley Street, Bethnal Green was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property.
Carl Wood, 59 (24.02.57), unemployed, of Elderbeck Close, Cheshunt was sentenced to six years imprisonment for conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property.
Two others pleaded guilty on 12 April 2015 to Count 2, Conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property contrary to Section 327 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. They are:
Brenn Walters, aka Ben Perkins, 44, (05.01.72), of Manor Court, Enfield.Terri Robinson, 36 (21.02.80), of Sterling Road, Enfield.
They are both due to be sentenced at the end of March.
Detective Superintendent Craig Turner making an appeal for the only member of the gang who remains outstanding said; “The individual known as ‘Basil’ remains unknown. We believe he let the group in and possibly disarmed the alarm.
“Basil is still wanted in connection with the burglary and we would ask anyone who has information as to the identity of ‘Basil’ or the whereabouts of the outstanding jewellery to contact police. We are offering a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction and the recovery of the outstanding property.”
Anyone with information should contact the Incident Room on 020 8785 8655 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
