Over the course of the 2015 Easter weekend, a group of pensioners broke into the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd.
The elderly thieves made off with an estimated £14 million worth of jewellery, precious stones, gold, and cash, all of which had been stowed in the understanding that it would be kept safe and secure in the safe deposit facility, which was located in London's most luxurious jewellery district.
Shortly after staff locked the doors on Thursday, April 2, 2015, the group gathered outside, dressed as utility workers, before entering the premises through a lift shaft. They were then able to access the treasures by drilling a hole in the wall of the vault, before filling bins with the contents of 72 safety deposit boxes.
The following day, Good Friday, Met received a call, informing them that an intruder alarm had gone off. They decided at the time that this alert didn't warrant a response. On April 7, police announced that the facility had indeed been burgled, released CCTV of six intruders the Mirror nicknamed 'Mr Ginger, Mr Strong, Mr Montana, The Gent, The Tall Man, and The Old Man'.
All six of the men were eventually arrested and stood trial, with the court hearing how the gang had plotted for months at the Castle pub in Islington. The audacious crime caught the public imagination, inspiring multiple films, TV shows and radio plays, including King of Thieves (2018) starring Michael Caine.
Mystery of Hatton Garden millions taken to grave – the wildest theories on heist
Nine years on, the Mirror looks at what happened to the so-called 'diamond wheezers'....
The gang made off with £14 million worth of loot (PA)Michael Seed
Known as 'Basil' to his fellow gang members, Seed, 63, was regarded as the ring leader of the group. The unemployed electronics expert, who was one of the men who squeezed through the hole in the vault, managed to evade capture for three years.
The game was finally up however when, on March 27, 2018, officers raided his one-bedroom Islington flat - located approximately two miles from the scene of the crime. Police seized more than 1,000 items from Seed's home - the majority of which had been stolen during the heist. They also discovered specialist devices in his flat including alarm blockers and radio jammers.
After failing to pay up less than £50,000 of the £ 4.7 million he pocketed during the raid, Seed was handed an extra six-and-a-half years on top of his 10-year 2019 sentence.
During sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court, Judge Christopher Kinch QC said: "Your role was a central one. You were at the heart of the core activities that had to be carried out. You were not just there to fetch and carry. In my judgement, this must rank among the worst offences of its type."
Brian Reader
Reader pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit burglary and was sentenced to six years and three months behind bars at Belmarsh prison. He ended up serving just over three years, however, and was released with remission in July 2018 after suffering from prostate cancer and multiple strokes.
The 84-year-old, who was referred to as 'The Guv'nor', received a sentence seven months shorter than the other ringleaders of the group. Reader, who appeared at the confiscation hearing in a wheelchair, had been due to spend an extra seven years inside if he failed to pay the £6.5million confiscation order. In 2018, The Sun reported that the then newly-released Reader had been enjoying the summer sunshine in his Kent garden, and was being taken out for drives in his son Paul's red Porsche sports car.
They managed to drill a hole in the wall of the vault (PA)John Collins
John 'Kenny' Collins, who served as a lookout and getaway driver, was handed seven years, but was released in late 2018 after serving less than half his sentence. As reported by the Mirror at the time, the now 82-year-old, who the court described as 'instrumental in gaining access to the vault', was spotted out and about enjoying the festive season in North London, while his early release sparked anger.
Former Met Police chief Peter Kirkham said: “We are talking about lots of victims. Some of them have lost everything, their livelihoods as jewellery dealers and some may not have been insured. It can destroy people’s lives and the maximum sentence available to the judge was only 10 years. This is inadequate for top-end burglaries with so many victims.”
Terry Perkins
Perkins, who suffered from diabetes and heart problems, died in HMP in February 2018, from natural causes, at the age of 69. His death came just one week after he was ordered to repay an approximately £6.5 million.
Shortly before his death, Perkins' lawyer stated that he'd had been diagnosed with 'severe heart failure'. Perkins had suffered a heart attack in Belmarsh Prison and was fitted with a defibrillator at St Thomas' Hospital, London.
At his funeral, a floral tribute in the shape of an 'H' and 'G', as well as an arrangement shaped like a safe was placed on top of his hearse. A family friend told The Sun: "Terry was criminal royalty and always liked a laugh. But the last laugh was on him today. H and G meant Hatton Garden, though you could easily have had SE and maybe a couple of other letters."
Police were alerted to an alarm going off, but decided not to investigate further (PA)Carl Wood
Wood, who suffers from Crohn's disease and relies on disability allowance, is believed to have taken part in the heist after getting into £8,890 worth of debt. However, he pulled out on the second night of the raid, after discovering the fire escape door was shut.
As a consequence, the 58-year-old was refused any of the cash to clear his debts, and police didn't find any stolen items at his house. Wood was arrested in May 2015, and given a six-year prison sentence. Addressing Woolwich Crown Court Wood's defence barrister described him as a 'dogsbody' who was treated with scorn by the rest of the group.
Speaking of Wood's decision to abandon the heist, as per The Guardian, Judge Christopher Kinch said: “You were motivated not by any change of heart about stealing jewellery but by self-preservation because it became apparent someone had locked the fire escape door and danger might lie within the building.”
The audacity of the crime shocked and intrigued the British public (AFP/Getty Images)Jon Harbinson
Harbinson, 42, stood accused of storing many pieces of the stolen jewellery, gems and gold before returning them to the gang to divide. He was however cleared of all charges.
Hugh Doyle
One of the smaller players in the heist, Doyle was given found guilty of conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property. The 50-year-old plumber, who provided an exchange point for loot to be handed over outside his business premises remained upbeat despite his predicament, continuing to offer his professional services throughout the trial.
One light-hearted tweet, from March 2016, read: "Forget A rated prison - have you got a G-rated boiler? £400 cash back for new boiler.'
The thieves were nicknamed the 'diamond wheezers' (PA)William Lincoln
Getaway driver Lincoln was arrested in May 2015 while driving his black Audi A3. It was at this point officers discovered a ripped-up, handwritten note on the floor next to him - giving the address of the Wheatsheaf pub, where some of stolen goods had been handled.
The 68-year-old - nicknamed 'Billy the Fish’ due to his tendency to visit Billingsgate Fish Market on Fridays - was given a seven year sentence.
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