Hatton Garden ringleaders ordered to pay back £27.5m

The four ringleaders behind the Hatton Garden raid must pay a total of £27.5 million or each serve another seven years in jail, a judge at Woolwich Crown Court has ruled.

Judge Christopher Kinch QC said each jointly benefitted from an estimated £13.69 million worth of cash, gold and gems stolen when from boxes at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit.

Handing down his ruling, the judge said: "A number of these defendants are not only of a certain age, but have in some cases serious health problems.

"But as a matter of principle and policy it is very difficult to endorse any approach that there is a particular treatment for someone who chooses to go out and commit offences at the advanced stage of their lives that some of these defendants were."

John "Kenny" Collins, 77, Daniel Jones, 63, and Terry Perkins, 69, are serving seven-year sentences, while Brian Reader, 78, is serving six years and three months in jail for their roles in the notorious burglary.

Collins was ordered to pay £7,686,039 after the court heard he had assets in "liquid form" and property in this jurisdiction and abroad.Perkins was told he must pay £6,526,571.

Jones was ordered to hand over £6,649,827.

Reader, who was not in court, was told he must pay back £6,644,951, including the sale of his £639,800 home and development land worth £533,000.