Brian Reader claims that he gained nothing from the Hatton Garden raid
The ringleader of the Hatton Garden gang has appeared in court to argue that he gained nothing from the £25million raid.
Brian Reader, 78, dubbed the ‘Guv’nor’, was rolled into the dock at Woolwich Crown Court in a wheelchair, having suffered from a stroke as well as battling prostate cancer.
He and other gang members hope to avoid long extra prison sentences for not returning the missing loot from the raid on Hatton Garden Safe Deposits in London.
Reader claims that he walked away after the gang failed to drill into the basement of the building on the first night.
The next evening, other gang members made off with millions of pounds worth of jewellery, gold and cash.
Reader was jailed for six years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and has been in the healthcare wing at HMP Belmarsh for the last year.
The frail-looking prisoner, who struggled to hear proceedings at the timetable hearing, is also suffering from loss of sight.
He has convictions dating back to the 1960s and was jailed for eight years for his part in the infamous Brink’s-Mat robbery in 1983.
The notorious heist involved armed robbers stealing £26million in gold bullion from a warehouse, near London’s Heathrow Airport.
The bullion theft remains one of the biggest heists ever to take place in Britain – the gold taken was worth around £500million at today’s gold prices.
At the last court hearing in July it emerged police were still struggling to determine exactly what was stolen in the Hatton Garden raid.
Just shy of £4million of cash and jewellery was recovered out of an estimated loot of £20million.
A full confiscation hearing will take place next January.
The gang drilled through the concrete of the building’s basement vault before two of them got inside to steal £14million worth of gems
Reader’s lawyer James Scobie said his client was not a beneficiary and added: ‘There is no evidence whatsoever that he got anything.’
Judge Christopher Kinch QC said: ‘The question of the extent of which if it all Mr Reader was to share in the proceeds is something known to those involved in the events and not to anyone else.
‘As the tribunal of fact I am only going to be able to draw inference from the valuable evidence.’
He added that Reader’s confiscation hearing will have to take place with his co-defendants as a result.
The judge said: ‘I have had all the help I need in the form of written arguments.
‘I am going to consider the arguments in the frame work of the main hearing..
‘I am satisfied that is the best way that justice can be done.’
A confiscation hearing for Hugh Doyle, who was convicted of involvement, will take place at Woolwich Crown Court on 20 and 21 December.
Carl Wood was also guilty for his part and will be before the crown court on 10 November for a confiscation hearing too.
Prosecutor Philip Evans previously told the court owners of the items had faced hardship and misery because of their loss.
Reader was jailed for six years in March 2016 for conspiracy to commit burglary.
Reader’s accomplices John Collins, 77, Daniel Jones, 63, and Terry Perkins, 69
His accomplices John Collins, 77, Daniel Jones, 63, Terry Perkins, 69, and William Lincoln, 62, all got seven years for the same charge.
Estimates of the values of the loot have ranged from £14 – £35 million, but just a fraction has been traced.
Around 20 individuals lost jewellery totaling over £100,000 but their valuables are still being held by police awaiting further valuation.
The prosecutor previously admitted that ‘work needs to be done’ to get the stolen goods back to their owners.
A full confiscation hearing is due to take place on 15 January 2018 and will last six weeks.
Prosecutors will then estimate definitively how much the gang made from the raid.
Ringleaders John “Kenny” Collins, 77, of Islington, north London; Daniel Jones, 63, of Enfield, north London; Terry Perkins, 69, of Enfield; and Reader, of Dartford, Kent, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.
William Lincoln, 62, of Bethnal Green, east London, was found guilty of the same offence and one count of conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property.
The full confiscation hearing will take place on the 15 January 2018.