Hatton Garden raid: 'Ringleader' boasted of 'one last go' to fellow criminals, court hears

Daniel Jones made the statement in a series of conversations taped by police days after the £14 million jewellery heist was carried out
Raid: Daniel Jones has admitted his part in the burglary
Metropolitan Police/PA
Jamie Bullen7 December 2015
WEST END FINAL

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One of the “ringleaders” of the Hatton Garden raid boasted they had given it one “last go” in case they got caught, a court heard.

Daniel Jones, 58, was recorded making the statement to fellow criminals Terry Perkins, 67, and John “Kenny” Collins, 75, days after the £14 million jewellery heist.

The men have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit between May 17 last year and 7.30am on April 5 this year, along with Brian Reader, 76.

Conversations between Collins, Perkins and Jones were recorded by police on electronic bugs planted in Perkins’s and Collins’s cars.

Jurors at Woolwich Crown Court heard how Reader, 76, the oldest member of their group, walked away from the job after the gang failed to break into the vault on the first night of the raid and another member Carl Wood, 58, pulled out the next night.

Raided: An interior view of the vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company which was robbed over the Easter weekend. 
Metropolitan Police

In one conversation recorded on May 15th, referring to either Reader or Wood, Jones tells Collins and Perkins: “Yeah, well that's my fault with him anyway. I said to him to stay there - if we get nicked at least we can hold our heads up that we had a last go.

"And he goes 'f****** right', and what's he do (blows a raspberry)."

Reader and Wood were described as “idiots” by the trio for leaving the job, adding it was “common sense” they would eventually gain access to the vault.

Collins is heard saying: “Never give up. The old saying comes round, never give up."

Later in the conversation, Perkins said he wished he took a picture of the raid.

He said: “I wish I had a photo, Dan. I know you and Basil was inside.

Keeping guard: A police officer exits the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company
Andy Rain/EPA

"I wish I had a photo to show me sat outside all on my own, right, doing what I had to do, to say to him, 'that's where you left me Brian, look, all okay my own'."

Jurors have heard one of the thieves seen on CCTV of the raid, a red-haired man known as Basil, is yet to be identified.

Wood, William Lincoln, 60 and Jon Harbinson, 42, are also accused of being involved in the burglary conspiracy.

Hugh Doyle, 48, of Riverside Gardens, Enfield, is jointly charged with them on a count of conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property between January 1 and May 19 this year.

Doyle also faces another charge of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property between April 1 and May 19.

Another conversation between Jones and Perkins describes the moment the vault was successfully breached.

Jones said: "And you said, 'smash that up. Smash that up now, put that down'. Its f****** working cos you're egging one another on, going 'it's working, it's working, you got to take it off'.

"Remember me saying that it ain't f****** coming back - we're in, we're in! And you started pumping again, 'get some more, get some more'."

Wood, of Elderbeck Close, Cheshunt, Lincoln, of Winkley Street, Bethnal Green, Harbinson, of Beresford Gardens, Benfleet, and Doyle, of Riverside Gardens, Enfield, deny the charges against them.

The case continues.

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