Brian ‘The Guvnor’ Reader, the notorious burglar and mastermind behind the audacious Hatton Garden heist, has passed away at the age of 84. The revelation of his death comes after his family and associates attempted to keep the news a secret.
Despite his advanced age, Reader’s death from colon and prostate cancer marks the end of a remarkable criminal career that spanned decades and netted him millions of pounds in stolen goods. Among his most infamous exploits was the 1971 burglary of a Central London bank vault, where he and his gang, known as the ‘Millionaire Moles,’ escaped with £3 million in loot (equivalent to £53 million today).
However, Reader’s legacy is forever tied to the 2015 Hatton Garden heist, which he orchestrated at the ripe old age of 76. The gang’s audacious plan involved breaking into the vault of London’s Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company over the Easter weekend. Despite encountering setbacks and the breakage of their equipment, the determined burglars managed to gain access to the vault and steal valuables worth £14 million.
In the aftermath of the heist, six of the gang members, including Reader, were apprehended and sentenced to prison terms of up to seven years in March 2016. A seventh member, Michael ‘Basil’ Seed, was arrested in 2018 and received a 10-year sentence. Reader’s release from prison in July 2018 after serving only half of his sentence sparked outrage among the public, who felt that he had not been held accountable for his crimes.
Subsequent attempts to recover the stolen loot and force Reader to repay his share of the proceeds proved unsuccessful. In 2020, a judge ruled that Reader’s ill health rendered him unfit to be jailed for failing to pay back the £6.6 million he owed. Despite these setbacks, the authorities remain steadfast in their pursuit of recovering the outstanding balance owed by Reader and his accomplices.
