Unmasked, Basil the mystery Hatton Garden raider

Final member of gang is jailed after arrest two miles from scene of robbery with £143,000 worth of jewels

THE last member of the infamous “diamond geezer” gang responsible for the £14m Hatton Garden safe deposit raid is the son of an eminent Cambridge academic. University drop-out and convicted drug dealer Michael Seed – who was nicknamed “Basil” – was yesterday found guilty of conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to hide the proceeds, four years after the daring heist took place. He was jailed for 10 years.

The identity of the outstanding gang member, who was captured on CCTV wearing a cap and a distinctive red wig, had remained a mystery long after the other raiders were caught and convicted. It had been rumoured Basil had fled overseas with millions of pounds worth of the unrecovered loot. But in the end the 58-year-old unemployed bachelor was arrested less than two miles from the scene of the raid.

Seed was the youngest member of the gang who carried out the audacious safe deposit raid over the 2015 Easter weekend. Unlike the rest of the criminal outfit, Seed came from a middle-class background, growing up in the Cambridgeshire village of Great Shelford. John Seed, his late father, was an eminent Cambridge biophysicist. Michael won a place at Nottingham University to study electronics, but became involved in recreational drugs as a student. The court heard he served 21 months of a three-year prison sentence imposed in 1984 for supplying class A and class B drugs.

After being released he moved into a council flat in Islington, north London, paying £13 a week. He was still living in the flat at the time of his arrest, although his rent had risen to £105 a week.

When police raided the property they discovered almost 1,000 items of jewellery, worth £143,000, that had been stolen during the Hatton Garden raid. Detectives believe Seed was melting down gold and breaking up jewellery on his bedroom workbench.

Police also found home-made mobile phone jammers and other electronic equipment in the flat. It is thought Seed was brought in by the gang because of his electronics expertise. It was his job to override the vault’s security and alarm system.

He was then one of two men who climbed through a hole that had been drilled in the wall of the vault before looting 73 safe deposit boxes of their contents.

Seed is the 10th person to be convicted in connection with the crime. He was jailed for 10 years for the Hatton Garden charge and eight years for the conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property charge, to be served concurrently.

Passing sentence at Woolwich Crown Court yesterday, Judge Christopher Kinch QC said: “In my judgment this must rank among the worst offences of its type.”