Jewel heist mastermind takes secrets to the grave

ONE of the masterminds of the Hatton Garden jewellery raid took his secrets to the grave yesterday.

Terence Perkins, 69, was found dead in his cell at London’s Belmarsh Prison. He had diabetes and a serious heart condition. Only last week he was ordered to pay back £6.5million or face up to seven more years behind bars.

Relatives said this ruling was a ‘death sentence’ because he could not find the sum. It will make it even tougher to track down the missing loot or identify the mystery fellow burglar known only as Basil.

Jewellery, watches, gold bullion and cash worth up to £35million was stolen during the extraordinary raid over the 2015 Easter weekend in London.

Just a fraction has been recovered, with Perkins, pictured, and four other gang members ordered to pay back £27.5million between them.

Perkins’s barrister Peter Rowlands, who has always insisted Basil was the true architect of the raid, described his client’s death as sad news.

Last week, Mr Rowlands told Woolwich Crown Court that his client had been diagnosed with severe heart failure and there was ‘no prospect’ of him repaying the money.

Perkins and five other members of the burglary gang were jailed for a total of 34 years in March 2016. Lawyers agreed that the elderly criminals made off with a minimum of £13,690,331.