Brian Reader, the 80-year-old mastermind behind the Hatton Garden heist, could avoid returning to prison after being diagnosed with dementia, a court heard on Wednesday. Reader was released last year after serving half his sentence but faces another seven years if he fails to repay £6.6 million from the £13.7 million raid.
At Hendon Magistrates' Court, prosecutor Philip Stott said Reader's lawyers had submitted medical evidence suggesting he 'was incapable of participating in these proceedings... effectively on the grounds of the onset of dementia'. Prosecutors will now instruct their own medical experts, and District Judge Richard Blake adjourned the confiscation hearing until October 3.
Reader, along with fellow ringleaders John 'Kenny' Collins, 78, Daniel Jones, 64, and Terry Perkins, who died in prison last year aged 69, was hit with one of the largest confiscation orders in Scotland Yard's history. They jointly face orders to repay £27.5 million, which prosecutors say is available in hidden assets from unrecovered jewellery, gold, gems and cash, as well as individual additional amounts from properties in the UK and abroad.
Collins also appeared in court to fight an order to repay £7.6 million, or face another seven years in jail. His lawyer David Wood said Collins has handed over £732,000 and has received an offer of £742,500 for his London home, while his Spanish flat is now worth just 99,000 euros, down from an estimated £350,000. The judge released Collins on bail until August 1, when he will decide on his imprisonment.
Jones has already been sentenced to seven years for failing to pay back the cash, while prosecutors hope to recoup money from Perkins's estate. Alarm specialist Michael Seed, 58, jailed for 10 years in March for his role in the 2015 Easter bank holiday heist, is likely to face a similar order.
