Pensioners plead guilty over $10M pound U.K. diamond heist
Reuters
First posted: Friday, September 04, 2015 11:59 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, September 04, 2015 01:46 PM EDT
In a file picture taken on April 7, 2015 a man leaves the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Limited in London. Police on May 19 arrested seven men over an audacious heist in London's diamond district last month. (AFP PHOTO/NIKLAS HALLE'N)
LONDON - Four men, three of them pensioners, pleaded guilty on Friday to being part of a daring multi-million pound raid in London's jewellery business district earlier this year.
Brian Reader, 76, John Collins, 74, Terry Perkins, 67 and Daniel Jones, 58, all appeared at Woolwich Crown Court and admitted conspiracy to burgle the Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd building which was targeted during the long Easter holiday weekend in May.
Items worth more than 10 million pounds were stolen when intruders broke into the vault where many of the area's gold, diamond and jewellery businesses kept stock and made off with the contents of 73 safety deposit boxes.
The burglars had broken into an elevator shaft, abseiled down to the vault where they used heavy cutting equipment to drill through a thick concrete wall.
Hatton Garden, in the heart of London, has been home to the gem trade for centuries and has almost 300 dealers and more than 50 jewellery shops.
Police, who admitted they had failed to send any officers when a burglar alarm sounded in the safety deposit building, have since said they have recovered significant amounts of high value property which they were confident had been taken from the vault.
Five other men, aged between 42 and 60, denied the conspiracy to burgle charge on Friday and are due to go on trial later this year.
