Brian Reader boasted about Hatton Garden heist in Crayford pub before arrest, as three are convicted

Carl Wood, William Lincoln and Hugh Doyle were all found guilty by a jury at Woolwich Crown Court this afternoon (January 14).

The fourth defendent, Jon Harbinson, has been cleared of two charges - after eight months in jail.

How the thieves were caught

On the day of the raid, ringleader Daniel Jones was caught on CCTV entering a tool shop in Heath Road, Twickenham.

CCTV from H&M Tools on Saturday, April 4.

Following Reader's arrest a man, known only as Daniel, told News Shopper how he heard him boasting about the heist in a pub near Crayford Dogs.

He said: "I overheard Brian Reader talking about what he had done in a pub in Crayford.

"They were talking about where they were going to hide it all, they thought no one was listening but we could all hear them.

"I was in the pub with my daughter. We told the police, they watched them for a while then they went in and nicked them.

"He's been away before for armed robbery."

Reader at Scotti's Cafe in Clerkenwell Green on April 17 last year.

Meanwhile the Met have revealed how a pub chat, recorded on secret cameras, allowed detectives to snare Reader, Perkins and Jones - and released the video.

The police force is also offering a £20,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the ginger haired raider, known as Basil.

Detective Superintendent Craig Turner, the Head of the Met's Flying Squad, said: "This was a thorough and complicated investigation which meticulously linked the gang together.

"The weight of evidence was so strong that half the gang chose to plead guilty.

Collins, Perkins and Reader in the Castle pub, Pentonville Road. Date: May 1 last year.

"It was an audacious, brazen burglary that was some three years in the planning. 

"One man, who has become known as 'Basil', is still wanted in connection with the burglary.

"We would ask anyone who has information as to the identity of 'Basil' or the whereabouts of the outstanding jewellery to contact police.

"We are offering a reward of up to £20,000 for information leading to his arrest and conviction and the recovery of the outstanding property." 

(Left-right): Carl Wood, William Lincoln, Jon Harbinson and Hugh Doyle at Woolwich. Elizabeth Cook/PA

Wood, 58 of Hertfordshire, and Lincoln, 60 of Bethnal Green, were both convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property.

Plumber Doyle, 48 of Enfield,was found guilty of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property between January 1 and May 19 this year.

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The Easter bank holiday security deposit box raid was the largest burglary in British legal history.

Thieves ransacked 73 boxes at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd after using a drill to bore a hole into the vault wall.

Valuables worth up to £14 million, including gold, diamonds and sapphires, were taken.

Two thirds of them remain unrecovered.

None of the men showed any reaction as they were convicted.

Another thief, known only as "Basil", let his co-conspirators into the building by opening the fire escape from inside. He has not been identified.

All of the men are due to be sentenced by Judge Christopher Kinch QC on March 7.

The ringleaders

Ringleaders John "Kenny" Collins, 75, Daniel Jones, 60, Terry Perkins, 67, and the group's oldest member Brian Reader, 76, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary last September.

The Guardian have reported that career criminal Reader, who was jailed for his part in the £26million Brinks Mat gold bullion armed robbery, was previously charged with murdering an undercover police officer in the grounds of Kenneth Noye's West Kingsdown mansion in January 1985.

PC John Fordham was stabbed in the front and back as he kept watch on Noye – who was acquitted after claiming he acted in self defence. Reader was cleared of the charges.

It can also now also be reported that Perkins's daughter Terri Robinson, 35, of Sterling Road, Enfield, faces being jailed alongside him after she pleaded guilty to concealing, converting or transferring criminal property.

Her brother-in-law Brenn Walters, 43, who is also known as Ben Perkins, also admitted the same offence.