Hatton Garden heist ringleader 'was also involved in Brinks Mat robbery'

Court hears Brian Reader, known as 'The Guv’nor' by the Hatton Garden team, was jailed for his role in the bullion theft

Brian Reader was jailed for his part in the 1983 £26m Brinks Mat gold bullion robbery (PA)

Two ringleaders of the Hatton Garden jewellery heist were involved in two of the biggest raids in British criminal history more than 30 years ago, a court has heard.

Brian Reader, 76, was jailed for eight years for his role in shifting the proceeds of the £26m Brinks Mat gold bullion robbery in 1983, jurors were told. Reader – who was known as “The Master” or “The Guv’nor” by other members of the Hatton Garden team – was jailed for another year for dishonestly handling £66,000 from the raid.

Terry Perkins, 67, was jailed for 22 years for the Security Express robbery in 1983, when raiders escaped with almost £6m in cash from the central London vaults of the company over the Easter Bank holiday weekend – the same date when the safety deposit centre was raided earlier this year.

Daniel Jones, 60, another key figure in the Hatton Garden raid who has a history of burglary, appeared to refer to the Security Express job when he was caught boasting on secret police recordings about the scale of the Hatton Garden burglary. According to the recording played in court he said: “The biggest cash robbery in history at the time and now the biggest tom [jewellery] history in the fucking world, that’s what they are saying… and what a book you could write.”

Police say the Hatton Garden gang escaped with a haul of £14m, only a third of which has been recovered, and prosecutors say it was the biggest burglary in British legal history

It was the first time that the jury have heard details of the criminal convictions against four men who have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle. The three and John Collins, 75 – whose crimes date back to 1961 – will be sentenced at a later date. Four other men are on trial at Woolwich Crown Court for their alleged roles in the jewellery raid and deny the charges against them. A ninth burglar – known only as Basil – has not been identified.

The trial continues.