After Brian ‘The Guvnor’ Reader, the thief who planned the Hatton Garden theft, died, it’s pretty improbable that the £10 million in stolen goods will ever be recovered. The infamous lifer was the senior member of the ‘Diamond Wheezers’ gang who, in 2015, robbed a bank vault in Hatton Garden containing jewels and gold valued at fourteen million pounds. There are still almost £9.5 million worth of stolen things that have not been located, while the police have only recovered £4,467,566.74.
Reader amassed nearly £200 million in a series of robberies, one of which was the daring four-day weekend bank heist in April 2015, during which he drilled into the Hatton Garden subterranean jewels vault. The 1983 Brink’s-Mat heist, which included stealing £26 million worth of cash, gold bullion, jewels, and other valuables from a London warehouse, was among the biggest heists in British criminal history. Almost all of the treasure that was taken was never found again.
Reader’s death certificate states that he died away in September 2023 at his home in Dartford, Kent. However, his family is said to have attempted to conceal the news. He lost a fight against prostate and colon cancer.
His remaining wealth is unknown because, despite a seizure order, he was only ordered to repay 6% of his multi-million pound part.
After a string of health problems, Reader was released from prison in the middle of his term in 2018. He was sent to the critical care section of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in south-east London in 2016 from Belmarsh Prison. His failure to repay the £6.6 million was eventually overturned by a court who determined he was too sick to return to jail.
One of the most significant seizure orders ever issued by Scotland Yard was directed at the organization.
In 1985, he was also tried for the murder of undercover cop Detective Constable John Fordham with Kenneth Noye. The jury found Reader and Noye not guilty.
