The Crime Book

59

See also: The Great Train Robbery 30–35 ■ The Société Générale Bank Heist 44 ■ The Antwerp Diamond Heist 54–55

footage, nor did the Metropolitan

Police react to an alert from the

vault’s alarm.

The alarm also alerted the

vault’s security monitoring

company. They called Alok Bavishi,

the son of the safe deposit centre’s

joint director, who was temporarily

in charge. Although Bavishi was

incorrectly informed that the police

were already at the scene, he

phoned a security guard to check

out the building. But the guard

found nothing wrong when he

looked through the main door – a

lucky break for the gang,

particularly as lookout Collins had

fallen asleep while he was on duty.

Meanwhile, Basil and his

associates made two trips to the

vault. By the time they fled

the area, at 6:45am on Sunday

morning, they had ransacked

72 boxes and taken £14 million

worth of loot.

Tracking them down

However, the gang unwittingly left

an electronic trail. They had tried

to disable the security cameras and

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS

the vault’s alarms, but only with

partial success. The gang’s

careless use of their cell phones

also provided the police with clues.

Access to phone records and

vehicle-tracking data established

that gang members Perkins,

Collins, and Jones had regularly

met at the Castle pub in Islington,

north London, while planning the

raid. A police surveillance operation

later recorded Reader, Collins, and

The “Diamond Wheezers” as the

press dubbed them were jailed for a

lenient combined total of 34 years.

Perkins and Jones even thanked the

judge as they were led away.

Perkins in the Castle pub boasting

about how they had accessed

the vault.

Mystery mastermind

Seven men were eventually

arrested and convicted for the

Hatton Garden robbery, but Basil

eluded capture. According to the

testimony of Danny Jones, Basil

was an ex-policeman and the

mastermind behind the raid. Basil

clearly was the most professional

member of the gang and had been

careful to conceal his face with a

bag when making his way into the

waiting van. He is believed to have

been the inside man, letting

himself into the building with a set

of keys and bypassing several

layers of security. Both Basil and

more than £10 million worth of

jewellery, gold, and gems are

unaccounted for. ■

One last job

The British press and the public

were tickled by the venerable

age of the men accused of the

Hatton Garden heist. There was

a certain charm to the revelation

that Reader used a senior

citizen’s bus pass to get to

Hatton Garden; that lookout

Kenny Collins had napped on

duty; and that Terry Perkins had

remembered to pack his

diabetes medication.

Superficially, the gang

members seemed like they

could have been anyone’s

grandfathers. However, many

of them were dangerous career

criminals bonded by friendship,

a shared skill set, and nostalgia

for past adventures.

For years, Reader had

cultivated a “safety-first”

approach to keep him ahead of

the law. He had aborted risky

robberies and taken long

sabbaticals when things turned

“hot”. Finally, though, it seems

that he could not resist the

allure and prestige of this

opportunity, abandoning his

tried-and-tested approach for

one last job.

058-059_Hatton_Garden.indd 59 02/12/2016 14:40