Secret of the missing millions in gold Brian Reader takes with him to the grave
Brian Reader, the man behind the Hatton Garden heist, has died at the age of 84.
He is infamous for his role in high profile raids across the country where he made more than £200million throughout his life.
A death certificate reveals that Reader died in September 2023 at his home in Dartford, Kent, despite his family trying to keep it a secret.
He died from colon and prostate cancer.
Born in 1939 in London’s Docklands, Reader’s criminal career started at the age of just 11, where he used to steal tinned fruit from shops.
His first big job came in the 1960s, where he stole £500,000 from a Post Office – the equivalent to £7.5million today.
As one of London’s most notorious modern gangsters, Reader targeted banks in London from the age of 32.
One of the most famous of these was Reader heading up a gang known as the ‘Millionaire Moles’ who dug 40 feet under a restaurant into a Baker Street branch of Lloyds bank in 1971.
They stole £3million – the equivalent to £41million today.
The next target was Lloyds in Holborn Circus in 1982 where £1million worth of jewels were stolen.
In 1985, he was jailed for nine years but this didn’t stop him pursuing further his criminal career.
The experience led him to head up the Hatton Garden raid in 2015 – where he soon became recognised as the ‘Guv’nor’.
What was the Hatton Garden raid?
The Hatton Garden raid happened in April 2015 and involved Reader and seven other culprits stealing money from the Hatton Garden safe in central London.
The burglars worked through the four day Easter bank holiday weekend, with much of the planning taking place at the Castle pub on Pentonville Road.
The burglars entered the premises through a lift shaft and drilled through the 50cm wall.
Police released pictures of the inside of the vault showing damage caused by the burglary, and how the burglars had used holes drilled through the vaults wall to bypass the main vault door.
Three members of the gang, John ‘Kenny’ Collins, Daniel Jones, and Terry Perkins, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary, and were each given a seven-year prison term on March 9 2016.
Carl Wood and William Lincoln were found guilty of the same offence and also 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.
Reader was sentenced to six years and three months in prison.
The theft was described as the ‘largest burglary in English legal history’.
The Hatton Garden raid involved seven culprits to tunnel their way into a safety deposit vault to steal £29million.
To this day, jewels and around two thirds of the money are still missing.
Reader pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary and was jailed for six years.
But in 2018 he started to suffer with his health and had a series of strokes and he was released mid-way through his sentence.
Outside of his criminal work, Reader was a family man and remained with his childhood sweetheart Lyn throughout his life.
Following on from his criminal life, the family took the different name of McCarthy and lived in south east London.
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