Brian ‘Master’ Reader used free travel pass on way to £14m London heist

One of the men who has pleaded guilty to the biggest heist in British history used a free travel pass belonging to someone else to travel to the scene of the £14 million robbery.

Woolwich Crown Court has heard how the 76-year-old experienced criminal, Brian Reader, used a London Council over-60s Freedom Pass issued in the name of a Mr T McCarthy to get to London’s jewellery quarter on the night of April 2 where the Hatton Garden heist took place.

Oyster card records show the pensioner boarded the number 96 bus from near his home in Dartford, before exiting Waterloo East station at around 6.30pm.

From there he caught the number 55 bus to St John Street — about a five-minute walk from Hatton Garden.

The pensioner, along with three other “ringleaders” —John “Kenny” Collins, 75, Daniel Jones, 58, and Terry Perkins, 67, — has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit.

Four other men also face charges. One of the suspects, a red-haired man known only as Basil, remains at large.

Dubbed the “Master” by his co-conspirators, Reader was instrumental in planning the burglary from safety deposit boxes in the capital’s diamond district. But he withdrew from the conspiracy when the gang ran into difficulties trying to get in to the vault at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit on the first night.

The other men allegedly returned the following night to complete the job. Two thirds of the £14m worth of goods that were stolen have not yet been recovered.