LONDON: Detectives will visit the mastermind of the Hatton Garden raid behind bars to warn him he faces fresh charges and the loss of his business fortune if he fails to give up the mysterious "inside man" behind the burglary.
Brian Reader, described by his gang as "Guv'nor", is expected to be visited by the Flying Squad within days after detectives said they would "seek every avenue" to find "Basil", who may have fled abroad with pounds 10?million of jewels. While the outcome of the trial is seen as a feather in the cap of Scotland Yard, the failure to capture Basil and recover the majority of stolen goods has been criticised by victims of the burglary.
The first clear pictures from inside the heavily armed safe deposit vault have now emerged, showing the devastation left by the gang.
Scores of vault doors were left hanging open while empty boxes were scattered as the burglars systematically ransacked the room. It is now thought they may have spent more than six hours going through the contents of the boxes, eventually making off with more than pounds 14?million in jewellery, gems, gold and cash.
Reader, 76, currently faces a likely 10-year jail term, the longest sentencing possible for conspiracy to burgle with intent to steal. But if the gang fail to give up Basil and the remaining loot, police and prosecutors may review their decision not to pursue a second charge of conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property, which carries a maximum term of 14 years.
The second charge was abandoned in September when ringleaders Reader, 76, John Collins, 74, Daniel Jones, 58, and Terry Perkins, 67, entered guilty pleas to the burglary. However, officers have grown frustrated by the men's lack of co-operation - particularly after Jones vowed to show them his loot then lied to officers that most of it was hidden in a graveyard.
When asked whether pressure will be applied over a potential second charge, Det Supt Craig Turner said: "We would seek every avenue to try and gain information of who actually Basil is. That would obviously be a police tactic that we would obviously possibly consider."
Reader is said to be suffering failing health and faces the prospect of dying in jail. But it is believed to be the dismantling of his family business amassed from a lifetime of crime that would concern him most. Under proceeds of crime laws, a judge could take away his assets, including his family home in Dartford, Kent. Detectives announced a pounds 20,000 reward to find Basil as three other accomplices were convicted this week of their role in the raid.
Officers from Scotland Yard's Flying Squad confessed they had no clue as to the identity of the burglar, who is thought to have supplied vital knowledge of the site for the gang's Easter weekend heist.
Careful to obscure his face from CCTV, Basil was able to let himself into the Hatton Garden building with a key and bypass several layers of security, leading to speculation that he had some connection with the company. After letting the rest of the gang into the basement, it was Basil who, along with Jones, climbed through the narrow hole in the vault wall and ransacked 73 of the 999 boxes.
On Thursday Carl Wood, 58, and William Lincoln, 60, were convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to launder the proceeds, while plumber Hugh Doyle, 48, was found guilty of laundering. Jon Harbinson, 42, a taxi driver from Benfleet, Essex, was cleared of all charges.
The gang will be sentenced on March 7. Reader was jailed for nine years for his role in the 1983 Brink's-Mat robbery, and was best friends with Kenneth Noye, who is serving life for a road rage murder.