Hatton Garden raid ringleader will not return to prison for failing to pay back his £6.6m share

Ringleader, 81, of £14m Hatton Garden raid will not have return to prison for failing to pay back his £6.6m share after a judge finds him too unwell

  • Hatton Garden mastermind Brian Reader has been found too unwell to face jail
  • Reader, 81, was supposed to hand over £6.6million from the famed 2015 heist
  • He paid just over 6 percent but is avoiding prison due to health issues
  • Hatton Garden leader Reader, of Dartford, Kent, was freed from jail in 2018 

Brian Reader (above) will not have to return to prison for failing to pay back his £6.6m share after a judge found him too unwell to be jailed

The Hatton Garden Raid mastermind will not have to return to prison for failing to pay back his £6.6million share after a judge found him too unwell.

Brian Reader, 81, handed over just 6 percent of his multi-million pound cut of the £13.7million raid despite his confiscation order two years ago.

A judge has now decided that Reader, who had until April 2019 to pay back the sum or face seven years in jail should not go to prison.

The Daily Mirror reports that he is avoiding jail due to his ‘mental and physical’ health. Reader has had prostate cancer, strokes, and has dementia.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service, which recovered just over £406,000, said: ‘After careful consideration, the judge decided Reader would not return to prison for failing to pay his confiscation order. 

‘We remain committed to recovering the balance Reader and his accomplices owe and will continue to pursue this using all lawful means.’     

Hatton Garden mastermind Reader, of Dartford, Kent, was freed from jail in 2018 after serving half his six-year and three-month sentence. 

An interior view of the vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company which was robbed over the Easter weekend in 2015 by six elderly men

An interior view of the vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company which was robbed over the Easter weekend in 2015 by six elderly men

Gold ingots found by police at the home of co-conspirator Michael Seed in Islington

Gold ingots found by police at the home of co-conspirator Michael Seed in Islington 

Reader, along with  ringleaders John 'Kenny' Collins, Daniel Jones, and Terry Perkins, were slapped with one of the biggest confiscation orders in Scotland Yard's history

Reader, along with  ringleaders John ‘Kenny’ Collins, Daniel Jones, and Terry Perkins, were slapped with one of the biggest confiscation orders in Scotland Yard’s history 

The holes drilled to gain access to the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit, in Hatton Garden, London

The holes drilled to gain access to the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit, in Hatton Garden, London 

The crook, along with fellow raid ringleaders John ‘Kenny’ Collins, 78, Daniel Jones, 64, and Terry Perkins, who died in prison aged 69, were slapped with one of the biggest confiscation orders in Scotland Yard’s history.

They owe a joint £5.75million, which prosecutors say is available in hidden assets from unrecovered jewellery, gold, gems and cash, as well as individual additional amounts from realisable assets such as properties in the UK and abroad.

The burglars worked through the four-day weekend of the Easter and Passover Bank Holiday, when many of the nearby businesses were closed.

It was reported that the burglars had entered the premises through a lift shaft, then drilled through the 50cm thick vault walls with a Hilti power drill. 

The theft was so significant that the investigation was assigned to the Flying Squad, a branch of the MPS’ Specialist, Organised and Economic Crime Command.

It is the subject of three feature films including 2018’s King of Thieves, starring Michael Caine, Ray Winstone, and Michael Gambon.

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk