Hatton Garden ringleader Brian Reader dies aged 84 with millions in loot from heist still missing
HATTON Garden heist mastermind Brian Reader has died aged 84 after pulling off some of the most lucrative raids in British history.
The gangster made more than £200million from high-profile raids across the country – including the infamous Brink’s-Mat robbery in 1983.
His expertise meant he was chosen to mastermind the audacious Hatton Garden raid in 2015 – becoming known as the “Guv’nor”.
Dubbed the “Diamond Wheezers”, the seven culprits tunnelled into a safety deposit vault to swipe £29million – with around two thirds of the cash and jewels still missing.
Relatives and associates of Reader tried to keep his death secret.
But a death certificate, which lists his profession as a retired gardener reveals he passed away in September 2023 at his home in Dartford, Kent.
He succumbed to cancer of the colon and prostate cancer.
Reader was jailed for six years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.
He was released mid-way through his sentence in 2018 after a battle with his health – including a series of strokes.
The crook, who was born in London’s Docklands in 1939, began his criminal career aged just 11 when he stole tinned fruit from a shop.
His first big job was in the 1960s with a hit on a Post Office where £500,000 – worth about £7.5million today – was stolen.
At the age of 32, Reader was also among a gang of master thieves who targeted banks in central London.
Reader headed a gang known as the “Millionaire Moles” who tunnelled 40 feet under a restaurant into a Baker Street branch of Lloyds bank in 1971.
The thieves made off with a £3million haul, which is worth around £41million today.
They then struck at a Lloyds in Holborn Circus in 1982 to steal £1million worth of jewels.
Reader was jailed in 1985 for nine years for his role in the £26million Brinks Mat gold bullion robbery.
Away from his criminal career, Reader was a dedicated family man.
Unlike other figures in Britain’s underworld, he shunned temptation and returned home to his childhood sweetheart Lyn every night.
One pal said previously: “Brian would go home every night to Lyn and, unlike most successful criminals, he never had mistresses.
“He wasn’t one for nightclubs and the fast life. Brian’s a quiet family man and he did everything for Lyn.”
After demanding an end to the family’s life on the run, Lyn, Reader and their children lived under the assumed name of McCarthy in Grove Park, South East London.
What was the Hatton Garden raid?
Carried out over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, the motley crew entered through a lift shaft and made their way to the basement where they used heavy cutting equipment to gain access to the outside of the 1940s vault.
A diamond-tipped drill was then used to bore through the 20in-thick reinforced concrete wall.
Once inside the gang ransacked 73 safe deposit boxes, containing jewellery, gems and gold with an estimated value of just under £14 million before escaping in a waiting transit van.
Most of the gems have still not been recovered and are feared to have been leaked onto the black market and sold abroad.
The value of the loot was also re-valued at £29million in 20197.
The OAP raiders – all with a combined aged of 442 -were previously collectively ordered to pay back £8.2million.
Reader is the second Hatton Garden robber to die after Terry Perkins passed away in prison in 2018.
Despite a battle with prostate cancer and a promise to his wife, Reader could not resist the pull of one last job when he was recruited into the Hatton Garden raid.
His expertise meant the gang were able to carry out one of the UK’s most daring-ever raids over a bank holiday weekend.
Posing as gas repairmen, the grey-haired thieves gained access to the building before boring a hole through a thick concrete wall and breaking into a vault.
Only about a third of the haul has been recovered after the thieves ransacked 73 safety deposit boxes.