Jewel raid ringleader was ‘bit of a Walter Mitty’
Defendant claims ‘eccentric to the extremes’ Danny Jones was ‘a bit of a Walter Mitty’
The man behind Hatton Garden theft slept in his mother’s dressing gown and a fez, a court hears
One of the Hatton Garden raid ringleaders was obsessed with crime and would sleep in his mum’s dressing gown and a fez hat, a court heard yesterday.
Daniel “Danny” Jones was also obsessed with the army and keeping fit, often going to bed in a sleeping bag on his bedroom floor, his friend of 30 years, Carl Wood, 58, told London’s Woolwich Crown Court.
Jones, 60, who admitted his role in the largest burglary in English history, which took place overthe Easterweekend, was “eccentric to extremes”, and would speak to his whitehaired terrier dog, Rocket, as if it were human, the jury heard.
Wood, a married father of two, said he first met Jones in a pub around 30 years ago, and the two became friends over their mutual interest in “keeping fit”. But soon after he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, aged around 24, Wood had to reduce his physical activity and instead he and Jones would go for walks together, often to a nearby garden centre.
Wood told the court: “Danny is a very sensitive guy, a very funny man. Eccentric to extremes, that everyone who knew Dannywould say he was mad. He would go to bed in his mother’s dressing gown with a fez on.”
He continued: “He would read palms, tell people he could read their fortunes – bit of a Walter Mitty. Danny was studying crime all the time in his room, reading books about it, watch films and go on the internet.”
The court heard the two men would often speak on the phone, but Wood explained this as “general chit chat”, such as arranging to go on a walk. The prosecution alleges the series of phone calls involved plotting the Hatton Garden raid.
Referring to a call in early January, Nick Corsellis, defending, asked: “Were you discussing the planning of the largest burglary in English history?” Wood replied: “No I was not. If I wasn’t going on a walk, generally I was visit- ing my mum, with my wife or my children, or in the vicinity of my house. My life never changed other than that.”
Wood, who was in debt and had financial issues at the beginning of the year, told the court he knew Jones was obsessed with crime, but that they never discussed this. “He would tell me from time to time what he had been up to, but I never asked,” he added.
Wood is accused of being one of the men who broke into Hatton Garden Safe Deposit on the night of 2 April, and that he returned two nights later but walked away from the job after finding the fire escape door closed.
Prosecutors claim a suspect identified as “Man F” in CCTV footage of the burglary is Wood.
Wood, 60, from Hertfordshire, is charged with conspiracy to commit burglary and one count of conspiracy to convert, conceal or transfer criminal property.
Ringleaders Brian Reader, John “Kenny” Collins, 75, Jones and Terry Perkins, 67, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit between 17 May 2014 and 7.30am on 5 April this year.
William Lincoln, 60, from Bethnal Green, and Jon Harbinson, 42, from Benfleet, Essex, are on trial accused of the same offence.
Plumbing engineer Hugh Doyle, 48, from Enfield, is jointly charged with them on one count of conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property between 1 January and 19 May this year.
He also faces an alternative charge of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property. One of the thieves, a red-haired man known only as Basil, has yet to be identified.
Collins of Bletsoe Walk, Islington; Jones and Perkins, both from Enfield, and Reader, from Dartford, are due to be sentenced at a later date.
A Barclaycard statement for Wood showed he was £8,890 in debt earlier this year. He explained he was receiving £320 per fortnight in disability pension on account of his suffering from Crohn’s Disease and only being able to work “spasmodically”. Saying that he does not have a trade, Wood added: “I do a bit of painting and decorating – just a general dogsbody.”
The court heard that Wood has two grown up daughters, Sophia and Louise, and that his mother is in a care home in nearby Ware.
When asked to describe her condition, he starting crying, saying: “My mother has got Alzheimer’s. She is bedridden, has been for four years.”