The History of Hatton Garden
From a bishop’s garden to London’s diamond quarter, with then-and-now photos
Read guide 10 min
Photo: “88-90 Hatton Garden, front door” by RHaworth, CC BY-SA 4.0
Easter 2015 · 88–90 Hatton Garden
The Hatton Garden heist, told from the street where it happened
A gang of ageing thieves, a drill, a lift shaft and a four-day weekend. How they did it, how they were caught, what was never found, and what's behind the black doors today.
PK
Parth KananiOctober 2026 · 8 min read
In short: over the Easter weekend of 2015, a gang broke into the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit vault at 88–90 Hatton Garden. They went down a lift shaft, drilled through half a metre of concrete and emptied 73 safe deposit boxes. Up to £14 million was taken; only about £4.3 million has been found. Seven men were sentenced in 2016, and the insider, “Basil”, was caught in 2018.
How they did it
A lift shaft, a drill and a long weekend
The vault sat in the basement of 88–90 Hatton Garden, an office building on the west side of the street. It held hundreds of safe deposit boxes, many rented by Hatton Garden traders who kept stock there overnight and over weekends. That's what made it worth the risk: on a bank holiday, the boxes were full.
An insider the gang called “Basil” let them into the building and dealt with the alarm. They climbed down the lift shaft to the basement and used a Hilti DD350, a heavy industrial diamond-core drill, to bore three overlapping holes through a vault wall 50cm thick.
Then the plan stalled. Behind the wall was a steel cabinet fixed in place, and their hydraulic ram couldn't move it. They gave up and left early on Friday morning. The ringleader, Brian Reader, decided the job was over and never came back. The others returned on Saturday night with new equipment, pushed the cabinet over, crawled through and broke open 73 boxes.
The alarm had gone off at 12.21am on the Friday. The police were told, but nobody was sent. The gang had three days before anyone noticed.
Timeline
From the bank holiday to today
Thu 2 April 2015, 9.19pm
Staff lock up Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd for the Easter bank holiday weekend.
Fri 3 April, 12.21am
The vault’s burglar alarm goes off. The police are told, but nobody is sent.
Fri 3 April, overnight
The gang drill through the vault wall, but can’t shift the steel cabinet on the other side. They leave just after 8am. Brian Reader never comes back.
Sat 4 – Sun 5 April
The others return with new equipment, push the cabinet over and empty 73 safe deposit boxes.
Tue 7 April
The break-in is discovered and made public after the long weekend.
19 May 2015
Police arrest nine people in a series of raids.
1 September 2015
Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd goes into liquidation.
March 2016
Sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court. Four men had pleaded guilty; three more were convicted at trial.
January 2018
Reader, Collins, Jones and Perkins are ordered to pay back £27.5 million between them, or face more time in prison.
February 2018
Terry Perkins dies in prison.
March 2018
Police arrest Michael Seed, the long-missing man known as “Basil”.
March 2019
Seed is convicted and jailed for 10 years.
September 2023
Brian Reader dies at home in Kent, aged 84.
2026
The building’s landlord applies to open a heist-themed wine bar on the site. Hatton Garden jewellers object.
How they were caught
Analogue criminals in a digital age
The gang were careful in the vault and careless everywhere else. Detectives from the Met's Flying Squad used street CCTV to pick out one of their cars, then traced it to its owner. From there they planted listening devices and heard the men talking about the job.
On 19 May 2015, six weeks after the break-in, police arrested nine people. The press called the gang “Dad's Army”: most of them were in their 60s and 70s, and several had been career criminals for decades.
The gang
Who they were, and what happened to them
Sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court in March 2016, except Basil, who was caught later. Another man, Jon Harbinson, was found not guilty.
| Name | Role | Sentence and since |
|---|---|---|
| Brian Reader | The ringleader, aged 76 at the time. A veteran of the 1983 Brink’s-Mat gold laundering | 6 years 3 months. Died in 2023, aged 84 |
| Terry Perkins | Part of the core gang inside the vault | 7 years. Died in prison in 2018 |
| John “Kenny” Collins | Lookout and driver | 7 years, plus more time later for not paying back |
| Daniel Jones | Part of the core gang inside the vault | 7 years, plus more time later for not paying back |
| Carl Wood | Helped on the first night | 6 years, convicted at trial |
| William Lincoln | Helped move the stolen goods | 7 years, convicted at trial |
| Hugh Doyle | Let the gang use his workshop to hand over goods | 21 months, suspended |
| Michael Seed (“Basil”) | The insider who let the gang in and dealt with the alarm | Arrested 2018, jailed for 10 years in 2019 |
What's still missing
Around £10 million, never found
The total taken was estimated at up to £14 million in cash, gold, diamonds and jewellery, and some estimates go higher. Only about £4.3 million has been recovered. In 2018 the court ordered four of the ringleaders to pay back £27.5 million between them or serve more time, and two of them went back to prison rather than pay.
For the people who rented the boxes, many of them traders on this street, the losses were personal: stock, savings and family pieces kept somewhere they believed was safe. Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd didn't survive. It went into liquidation that September.
Photo: “88-90 Hatton Garden, front door” by RHaworth, CC BY-SA 4.0
The building today
Behind the black doors
88–90 Hatton Garden is still there, on the west side of the street just north of Greville Street. The black double doors are easy to spot, and plenty of visitors stop for a photo.
In 2026 the building's landlord applied to open a heist-themed wine bar on the site. Many Hatton Garden jewellers objected: for traders who lost stock in the raid, it's not a story to celebrate.
Visiting the street? 88–90 is one of the stops on our Hatton Garden visiting guide, with a street map and a spot-it hunt.
On screen
Films, drama and documentaries
- 2016Hatton Garden: The HeistFilm
- 2017The Hatton Garden HeistBBC Radio 4
- 2017The Hatton Garden JobFilm
- 2018King of ThievesFilm, with Michael Caine, Jim Broadbent and Tom Courtenay
- 2019Hatton GardenITV four-part drama
- 2026Hatton Garden: The Great Diamond HeistChannel 4 documentary
If you're buying here
What the heist means for you
The raid hit a private vault, not the jewellers' shops, and the street went straight back to work. Buying on Hatton Garden today is no riskier than anywhere else in London.
The lesson that does carry over: valuables are only as safe as the arrangements around them. If you're buying an engagement ring, insure it from the day you collect it, and keep the certificate and a photo of the ring somewhere separate. Our guide to ring insurance covers what to look for.
More from the street
The heist is one chapter in 800 years of Hatton Garden.
Visiting Hatton Garden
Getting there, the street map, and how to plan a visit to the jewellers
Read guide 6 min
Best Hatton Garden Jewellers
Who we recommend on the street, and what each one is best for
Read guide 8 min
Famous Diamonds
The Koh-i-Noor, the Cullinan and the Millennium Star, the target of London’s other great diamond raid
Read guide 8 min
Common Questions
When was the Hatton Garden heist?+
Over the Easter bank holiday weekend in 2015, between the evening of Thursday 2 April and Sunday 5 April. The break-in was discovered and made public on Tuesday 7 April.
Where did the Hatton Garden heist happen?+
At 88–90 Hatton Garden, London EC1, in the basement vault of Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd. The building is on the west side of the street, just north of Greville Street, and you can still see its black double doors today.
How much was stolen in the Hatton Garden heist?+
The haul of cash, gold, diamonds and jewellery was estimated at up to £14 million, and some reports put it higher. Only around £4.3 million has been recovered, so roughly £10 million has never been found.
Did any of the Hatton Garden robbers get away?+
Nobody got away with it in the end, but one man stayed free for almost three years. Michael Seed, known as “Basil”, wasn’t arrested until March 2018 and was jailed in 2019. Most of the money is still missing.
Are the Hatton Garden robbers still in jail?+
The original sentences, handed down in 2016, have run their course. Terry Perkins died in prison in 2018, and the ringleader Brian Reader died in 2023. Kenny Collins and Daniel Jones were sent back to prison for failing to pay back what they owed. Basil was jailed for 10 years in 2019.
Who was Basil in the Hatton Garden heist?+
Basil was the gang’s nickname for Michael Seed, the insider who let them into the building and dealt with the alarm. He was the last of the gang to be caught, in March 2018, and was convicted in March 2019.
Is there a film about the Hatton Garden heist?+
Several. The films are Hatton Garden: The Heist (2016), The Hatton Garden Job (2017) and King of Thieves (2018), starring Michael Caine. ITV made a four-part drama, Hatton Garden, in 2019, and Channel 4 released the documentary Hatton Garden: The Great Diamond Heist in 2026.