Hatton Garden heist gang 'went on shopping spree in middle of raid'

The vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company
Metropolitan Police
Paul Cheston24 November 2015
WEST END FINAL

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The veteran members of the Hatton Garden heist gang went on a shopping spree in Twickenham in the middle of their record £14 million raid, a court heard today.

Two days after the break-in, two members of the gang drove 10 miles from the safe deposit vault, visiting two tool suppliers and buying a pump and a hose, the jury at Woolwich crown court was told.

A police officer outside the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company after the raid
Andy Rain/EPA

Daniel Jones, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle, left his name and address on a sales receipt, the court heard.

That night, they returned to the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit vault to complete the theft.

Prosecutor Philip Evans said that after drilling into the vault on April 2 the gang faced a problem.

“They would have encountered the back of the heavy metal cabinet housing the safe deposit boxes which was fixed both to the floor and the ceiling,” he said.

In the dock: A court sketch of (l-r) defendants Carl Wood, William Lincoln, Jon Harbinson and Hugh Doyle
PA

He said they had a Clarke pump and hose, which included a 10-ton hydraulic ram, but it failed to move the cabinet so they called a halt and left via a fire escape at 8am on April 3.

On the afternoon of April 4, John Collins, known as Kenny, drove Jones to Twickenham, the court heard.

They visited DM Tools but didn’t buy anything and paid for a pump and hose — part of a car body repair kit — in Machine Mart next door.

Mr Evans said: “Why the second pump and hose was required is not clear. One possibility is that the base was shattered on the first night, which apparently can happen if it is not exactly perpendicular when in use.

"It is difficult to purchase an individual part and of course these customers were limited for time, so it was an entirely new kit that needed to be secured.”

The gang re-entered the building that night, but without Brian Reader — known as the Governor or the Master — who decided he wanted to pull out of the raid, the court heard.

Wood is said to have returned to Hatton Garden but refused to go back in and walked away.

A police bug planted in Collins’ Mercedes after the burglary but before they were arrested, recorded Terry Perkins saying, allegedly referring to Wood: “He thought we would never get in.”

Mr Evans said: “They were suggesting that Carl had lost his nerve.”

The court heard that the men took away the cash, jewellery and gold in two wheelie bins.

Mr Evans said they loaded the “obviously very heavy” bins and several bags into a white van and headed to Collins’ home in Enfield. Four men have admitted their part in the heist.

Collins, 75 of Islington, Jones, 58 of Enfield, Perkins, 67 of Enfield, and Reader, 76 of Orpington, have all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle.

The four defendants in the dock are Carl Wood, 58 of Cheshunt, William Lincoln, 59 of Bethnal Green, and Jon Harbinson, 42 of Benfleet, and Hugh Doyle, 48 of Enfield.

Wood, Lincoln and Harbinson deny conspiracy to burgle between May last year and April this year. Wood, Lincoln, Harbinson and Doyle have all pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property between January and May.

Doyle also denies an alternative charge of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property.

The case continues.

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