Hatton Gardens Safe Deposit Burglary.

In April 2015 an underground safe deposit facility in Hatton Garden London was burgled. According to official sources, the total stolen had an estimated value of up to £14 million, of which only £4.3 million has been recovered. The heist was planned and carried out by 6 elderly men who were experience thieves. 4 other men were also trailed on suspicion of involvement, 3 were found guilty and sent to prison, whilst the 4^th was cleared.

The burglars worked through the four-day weekend of the Easter Bank Holiday, when many businesses around were closed. There was no forced entry to the premisses, but they entered via a lift shaft and then drilled through the thick vault walls with a power drill. The police announced that the facility had been burgled on 7^th April and, reports based on the CCTV footage showed that it started on the 2^nd April. The theft was so significant that the investigation was assigned to the flying squad, a brand of specialist within London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

Timeline –

1^st April 2015 – Electrical cables under the pavement caught fire and caused serious disruption in Central London. The fire continued for the next two days, meaning several thousand people were evacuated from nearby offices. There was also substantial disruption to telecoms infrastructure.

2^nd April 2015 21:19 – Depository staff locked their doors for the Easter Weekend.

2^nd April 2025 21:23 – One of the 6 descended to the vault, followed by 3 men disguised as workmen pulling wheeling bins.

3^rd April 2015 00:21 – The police were informed that the burglar alarm had been triggered.

3^rd April 2015 8:05 – Gang members talked together before going to their van and driving away.

4^th April 2015 21:17 – The same man who entered on 2^nd, descended again and was later joined by two other men.

5^th April 2015 6:10 – The gang members drove away from the bank.

7^th April 2015 – Scotland yard expressed awareness that a burglary had taken place.

10^th April 2015 – The daily mirror released CCTV footage.

19^th May 2015 – The police announced that they had arrested 9 suspects.

1^st September 2015 – Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company went into liquidation.

28^th March 2018. – Another man was arrested.

On 9 March 2016, at Woolwich Crown Court, three members of the gang, John “Kenny” Collins, Daniel Jones, and Terry Perkins, having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary, were each given a seven-year prison term. Carl Wood and William Lincoln were found guilty of the same offence one count of conspiracy to conceal, convert, or transfer criminal property, after trial. Lincoln was also given a seven-year sentence, and Wood was sentenced to six years. Hugh Doyle was found guilty of concealing, converting, or transferring criminal property. He was jailed for 21 months, suspended for two years. Doyle was also fined £367.50 for his general criminal conduct in January 2018. The alleged ringleader, Brian Reader, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison on 21 March 2016. 3 years after the burglary on 28^th March, Michael Seed, 57, was arrested after his home was searched. He was charged with conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to conceal or disguise criminal property. 

There has been over 6 television and movies created based on this burglary and the last was one on Netflix: Hatton Garden The inside story.

Some jewellers have claimed that the heist has actually helped their business due to increased publicity to the area.