Court remands eight men in Hatton Garden case

Eight men have been remanded in custody charged with conspiracy to burgle in connection with the Hatton Garden jewellery raid in England.

They are accused of being part of the plot to raid a safety deposit vault in London’s jewellery quarter over the Easter weekend.

Terry Perkins, 67, Daniel Jones, 58, and Hugh Doyle, 48, all of Enfield, north London; William Lincoln, 59, of Bethnal Green, east London; and John Collins, 74, of Islington, north London, all appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Also in court were Brian Reader, 76, and Paul Reader, 50, both of Dartford Road, Dartford, Kent, and Carl Wood, 58, of Elderbeck Close, Cheshunt, Herts, who face the same charge.

The charge states that together, between April 1 and May 19 this year, they conspired to enter as a trespasser a building, namely The Hatton Garden Safety Deposit at 88-90 Hatton Gardens EC1, with intent to steal.

They are due to appear at Southwark Crown Court next on June 4.

Prosecutor Edmund Hall said that while the total value of the goods stolen was not yet known, it ran ``in excess of £10 million'' and 73 safety deposit boxes had been raided.

District Judge Tan Ikram remanded the men in custody, saying it was a “serious” allegation.

This morning Scotland Yard announced that a 42-year-old British man had been arrested in Essex on suspicion of conspiracy to burgle.

The raid over the Easter weekend saw thieves break into the vault at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company in London’s jewellery quarter.

Officers believe they got into the building, which houses a number of businesses, through a communal entrance before disabling the lift so they could climb down the shaft to the basement.

It is thought that they then forced open shutter doors and used a drill to bore a hole 20 inches deep, 10 inches high and 18 inches into the vault wall.

Once inside, the thieves ransacked dozens of safety deposit boxes, taking millions of pounds-worth of items.

After facing criticism for the way the incident was handled, the Met Police apologised for not following procedures when receiving a call from a security firm about an intruder alert at the premises at midnight on Good Friday.

But Flying Squad detectives rejected the suggestion that they were bungling “Keystone Cops”.