Hatton Garden raider blames ‘mastermind’ for the gang getting caught and claims he ‘abandoned them’ when heist didn’t go to plan
A HATTON Garden raider has spoken out for the first time to blame the mastermind who plotted the heist for the gang being caught and sent to jail.
John “Kenny” Collins said Brian “The Master” Reader’s plan proved to be wrong, and that is what scuppered them.
The pensioners were part of the ‘Diamond Wheezer’ gang who swiped £14million of gold, jewels and cash from security deposit boxes over the 2015 Easter Bank Holiday.
Collins, now 78, was interviewed for an ITV documentary airing tonight – the first time any of the gang have spoken publicly.
He told how they were unable to get into the vault on the first night they tried to break in.
And he said a detail in Reader’s plan wasn’t right, as they found a steel shelf was bolted to the wall and not freestanding.
The veteran crook went on to accuse Reader, 80, of abandoning the aged criminals when he wouldn’t go back to the London jewellers the next day to continue drilling.
Collins, the gang’s lookout, said: “Brian said the thing would be freestanding. And when we get in, it’s bolted to the wall.
“They couldn’t move, couldn’t shift it so they come out that day.
“That’s when Brian decided not to go back. You don’t just pull out because it suits you. What about us?
“Maybe if he didn’t, none of us would have got nicked.”
You don’t just pull out because it suits you. What about us?
John Collins
He added: “They spent maybe three years on it. Common sense said we got to go back and give it another half-hour.
“We got to try and force these bolts. But he pulled out of it.”
Collins also said the rest of the gang decided Reader would not get a penny of their eventual loot.
He said: “I said we’d give him something but they said, he’s getting f*** all. And he’d been their mate for 30 f***ing years.”
The documentary follows the final part of a separate ITV drama about the raid, which was aired last night.
Earlier in the series the producer of the drama told how he slept with a baseball bat under his bed after a chilling call from a hitman.
Jonathan Levi described how he would feel “jumpy” after digging into the criminal underworld for the script.
Most of the gang, who had become known as the “diamond wheezers” due to their average age of 63, were put on trial in 2016.
The one that got away was Michael Seed, 58, known as “Basil”, who is thought to have been the ringleader.
He became the tenth person to be convicted in March 2019 when he was sentenced to ten years in prison.
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Known as “The Master”, Reader pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit burglary and was locked up for six years and three months for his part.
The then 79-year-old was released in July 2018 after serving just over three years.
Collins was released in late 2018 having served half his sentence. He served as the lookout and getaway driver for the gang.
Danny Jones, 63 from Enfield, was jailed for seven years for his part in the Hatton Garden raid, and handed an extra three years last year.
He climbed through the hole bored in the wall with Basil to break into the boxes.
Terry Perkins died in prison in February 2018 of natural causes, aged 69.
Carl Wood, 58, from Cheshunt, was handed a six year prison sentence for his part.
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William Lincoln, 60, who was known as “Billy the Fish” was given a seven year stretch. He acted at the gang’s getaway driver.
Hugh Doyle, a 50-year-old gas fitter, was found guilty of conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property and given a suspended prison sentence.
There was no evidence he ever went to Hatton Garden.
Another accused, John Harbinson, 42, was cleared of all charges.
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