Gang face losing homes
Property worth millions could be seized from elderly robbers
THE Hatton Garden gang could lose their multi-million pound property portfolio if they refuse to reveal the location of up to £20million of missing loot.
Prosecutors are preparing to bring cases against them under laws designed to stop criminals profiting from their crimes.
They have already blocked the sale of several of their homes and warned that all of the crooks face having assets seized. And if the elderly gang still do not cooperate, they face additional time in jail of up to ten years, on top of a maximum ten-year term for the heist, when they are sentenced in March. This means some of them are likely to die behind bars. for Scotland missing cash,Yard continuesjewellery andto gemstoneshunt that were snatched from the vault over Easter Weekend last April. Key to their inquiry is identifying ‘Basil’, the mystery mastermind who was seen walking away with a bag of cash. In the meantime, investigators are preparing to hit the gang with asset seizure orders as the 40 victims consider whether to bring civil cases against them. The gang own a series of impressive properties. Ringleader and Brink’s Mat gold launderer Brian Reader, 76, has a £1million detached home in Dartford, Kent. He recently built two homes behind it and was preparing to sell them for up to £400,000 each. He transferred ownership of the main house to his daughter Joanne, 50, on May 6 last year, a month after the raid and two weeks before his arrest. It is not clear how this affects prosecutors’ ability to seize the property.
Enforced by the Crown Prosecution Service, orders have already been made against several of the thieves’ homes stating no sale can be made except with the consent of Crown lawyers. Among the frozen properties is the North London home of Kenny Collins, 75, the gang’s look-out. Thought to have been bought under right-to-buy laws in 1999, the semi-detached former council house in Islington is mortgage-free and worth up to £650,000.
Another home under an order is a £160,000 house in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, owned by Carl Wood, 58, the gang’s ‘hired muscle’. Danny Jones, 60, who drew up the master plan for the raid, owns a £630,000 detached home in Enfield.
Terry Perkins, 67, who also took part in the £6million Security Express raid in 1983, lives in a £400,000 Enfield terrace, held in the name of his wife Jacqueline.
It is understood lawyers are investigating whether he still owns property in Portugal. He was caught bragging that he wanted to spend £60,000 of the Hatton Garden profits on ‘another’ flat in the country.
Mark Jenner, who runs a forensic accountancy firm in North Yorkshire, said the thieves face losing ‘practically everything’.
He explained that the houses do not need to have been bought directly with gain from the heist as the Proceeds of Crime Act says any ‘available assets’ can be seized. He added: ‘In the eyes of the law they will each have the “benefit” of up to £20million, or whatever is agreed was stolen. Everything they own, and anything they could own in the future, could be taken from them.’