Hatton Garden ringleader may have just 'months to live'

The mastermind behind the Hatton Garden heist, Brian Reader, "may only have months to live", a court was told.

The 77-year-old, dubbed "the guv'nor", was due to attend Woolwich Crown Court alongside six other men, to be sentenced for his role in the £14 million Hatton Garden raid - the biggest burglary in English history.

But his barrister, James Scobie QC, said the pensioner was too ill after suffering a stroke in Belmarsh prison to appear in court in person or by video link.

Mr Scobie, asking for the sentence to be adjourned, said: "He had what turned out to be a second fall in Belmarsh prison, which resulted in him being left for two days without proper care and then ultimately ending up in a critical care unit at Woolwich hospital, having had a stroke."

The court heard that Reader also has a history of prostate cancer, was treated for septicemia, and has a potentially cancerous mass on his face.

He is also hard of hearing and has reduced vision in his right eye.

Mr Scobie added that Reader was guarded by nine armed officers while in hospital.

Mr Scobie also said a report from a doctor indicated that Reader was in the condition because the secure unit he was held in did not have "sufficient capacity to be able to look after his particular health concerns".

Judge Christopher Kinch QC said he would not require Reader to attend the hearing and that he would revisit the matter on Wednesday, once more information on Reader's condition had been obtained.

Fellow ringleaders John "Kenny" Collins, 75, Daniel Jones, 61, and Terry Perkins, 67, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary last September.

Carl Wood, 59, of Elderbeck Close, Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, and William Lincoln, 60, of Winkley Street, Bethnal Green, east London, were convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property, after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Plumber Hugh Doyle, 49, of Riverside Gardens, Enfield, north London, was found guilty of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property between January 1 and May 19 last year.

All six men appeared in court with, flanked by 12 dock officers, and sat silently as they listened to updates about their accomplice's health.

The gang carried out the "sophisticated" and meticulously planned break-in over the Easter weekend last year.

They ransacked 73 boxes at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit after using a drill to bore a hole into the vault wall to steal valuable worth up to £14 million. Two thirds of them remain unrecovered.

Proceeding without the pensioner, prosecutor Philip Evans QC, opened the sentencing, which is expected to last three days.