Hatton Garden heist mastermind Brian Reader is dead aged 84: Gangster who made more than £200million from string of raids including Brink's-Mat robbery dies after cancer battle
The mastermind of the Hatton Garden heist Brian 'The Guvnor' Reader is dead aged 84 after a cancer battle.
The notorious career criminal, who was the ringleader of one of the most famous raids in British history, died in September last year after a fight with colon and prostate cancer.
Reader made more than £200million from a string of hits, including the 1983 Brink's-Matt robbery where armed robbers stole £26million in gold bullion from a warehouse near London's Heathrow Airport.
He was the oldest member of the 'Diamond Wheezers' heist which stole £14million worth of gems and bullion in a bank deposit heist in Hatton Garden in 2015. The famous raid has been the subject of three feature films, including 2018's King of Thieves starring Michael Caine.
The robber was jailed for six years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary. He was released halfway through his sentence in 2018 following a series of health battles.
Reader also stood trial along with Kenneth Noye for the murder of undercover police officer Detective Constable John Fordham in 1985. Both Reader and Noye were acquitted.
![The mastermind of the Hatton Garden heist Brian 'The Guvnor' Reader has died, aged 84](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/15/83990159-13341145-image-a-34_1713883773286.jpg)
The mastermind of the Hatton Garden heist Brian 'The Guvnor' Reader has died, aged 84
![He was jailed for six years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary but was released halfway through his sentence in 2018 following a series of health battles](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/15/83990975-13341145-image-a-35_1713883839239.jpg)
He was jailed for six years and three months after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary but was released halfway through his sentence in 2018 following a series of health battles
In June, MailOnline revealed Reader was set to make £2.5million after selling three homes in his Kent estate.
In 2016 Reader was moved from Belmarsh Prison to an intensive care unit at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Woolwich, south east London.
In appeared in court a year later in wheelchair having suffered a stroke as well as battling prostate cancer.
Four years later a judge ruled he was too unwell and would not have to return to prison for failing to pay back his £6.6million.
Reader had handed over just 6 percent of his multi-million pound cut of the £13.7million raid despite a confiscation order.
The crook, along with fellow raid ringleaders John 'Kenny' Collins, Daniel Jones, and Terry Perkins, who died in prison aged 69, were slapped with one of the biggest confiscation orders in Scotland Yard's history.
The burglars worked through the four-day weekend of the Easter and Passover Bank Holiday, when many of the nearby businesses were closed.
![John Collins, Terry Perkins, and Brian Reader in the Castle Public House pub](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/16/83992543-13341145-image-a-48_1713885308858.jpg)
John Collins, Terry Perkins, and Brian Reader in the Castle Public House pub
![The burglars worked through the four-day weekend of the Easter and Passover Bank Holiday, when many of the nearby businesses were closed](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/15/83990977-13341145-image-a-37_1713883974294.jpg)
The burglars worked through the four-day weekend of the Easter and Passover Bank Holiday, when many of the nearby businesses were closed
![The interior view of the vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company which was robbed by six men in 2015](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/16/16772506-13341145-The_interior_view_of_the_vault_at_the_Hatton_Garden_Safe_Deposit-a-45_1713884954099.jpg)
The interior view of the vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company which was robbed by six men in 2015
![Gold ingots found by the police at the home of co-conspirator Michael Seed in Islington](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/16/26793874-13341145-Gold_ingots_found_by_the_police_at_the_home_of_co_conspirator_Mi-a-46_1713884959203.jpg)
Gold ingots found by the police at the home of co-conspirator Michael Seed in Islington
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/16/10695458-13341145-image-a-44_1713884950385.jpg)
![Hatton Garden heist gang: John Collins (top left), Daniel Jones (top centre), Terry Perkins (top right). Bottom row, left to right: Carl Wood, William Lincoln, and Hugh Doyle](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/04/23/16/83992493-13341145-image-a-47_1713885230825.jpg)
Hatton Garden heist gang: John Collins (top left), Daniel Jones (top centre), Terry Perkins (top right). Bottom row, left to right: Carl Wood, William Lincoln, and Hugh Doyle
It was reported that the burglars had entered the premises through a lift shaft, then drilled through the 50cm thick vault walls with a Hilti power drill.
The theft was so significant that the investigation was assigned to the Flying Squad, a branch of the MPS' Specialist, Organised and Economic Crime Command.