Hatton Garden heist: Five men involved in £14m raid sentenced to total of 34 years in prison
Another burglar, known only as Basil, remains at large
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Five men involved in the £14 million Hatton Garden raid have been jailed for a total of 34 years over the audacious raid that the judge described as being in a class of its own.
Three of the ringleaders received seven year jail terms for their roles in what has been described as the largest burglary in English legal history.
John ‘Kenny’ Collins, 75, Danny Jones, 61, and Terry Perkins, 67, will serve half in prison, before they are released on licence. Jones and Perkins mouthed ‘thank you’ to the judge as they were sentenced.
The gang ransacked 73 boxes at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit after getting into the building and drilling through the vault wall over the Easter weekend last year. They escaped with money, jewels and other valuables worth an estimated £14m, with two-thirds of that unaccounted for.
Judge Christopher Kinch told the men: “It’s clear that the burglary at the heart of this case stands in a class of its own in scale of ambition, detail of planning, level of preparation, the organisation of the team to carry it out and in terms of the value of the property stolen.”
Collins, of Islington, north London; Jones, and Perkins, both of Enfield, north London, and the group's oldest member Brian Reader, 77, of Dartford, admitted conspiracy to commit burglary last September. Reader fell ill at top-security Belmarsh prison and will be sentenced at a later date.
Another burglar, known only as Basil, remains at large. He was said to have been instrumental in helping the gang get into the vault in the heart of London's diamond district. Police have offered a £20,000 reward for his capture.
The judge dismissed claims that the burglars were a bunch of old-school crooks who had stumbled into 21st Century crime. They had dumped their phones so they left no electronic footprint and the van they used during the raid had not been seen again. “The conspirators were clearly highly aware of leaving traces that could lead to their identification,” said the judge.
Carl Wood, of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, who walked off the job half way through the break-in and did not receive a penny of the proceeds, was jailed for six years. William Lincoln of Bethnal Green, east London, was jailed for seven years. The pair were convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary and laundering the proceeds after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.
Plumber Hugh Doyle, of Enfield - who the judge said was “somewhat in awe of these old school villains - was given a suspended jail sentence. He played a lesser role and was found guilty of laundering the proceeds after plotters met outside his workshop with the loot.