Hatton Garden robbery: Jewel heist gang could be undone by GREED, says security expert

The audacious heist over the Easter weekend in the heart of London's diamond district saw up to 70 boxes full of rare stones, antique art and priceless jewellery robbed by the criminal gang.

They are believed to have accessed the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company by abseiling down a lift shaft.

Former Flying Squad officer Barry Phillips, who worked as a Metropolitan Police detective for 33 years, said the story was far from over.

"They've clearly got a vast amount of money," he said.

"Splashing their cash around or being foolish could lead to one of them giving the game away.

"There's no honour among thieves - all it takes is for someone to get jealous or a friend to notice someone behaving oddly, splashing cash around."

Mr Phillips, now the head of security at bookmakers Ladbrokes, added, regardless of how well the robbery went, the plan could easily go wrong afterwards. 

"I think it's likely they will allow greed to get the better of them and give themselves away," he said.

"It will be a professional job. It doesn't sound random. It's well planned - there's a high degree of planning gone into it.

"It just seems strange how smoothly it went - in particular the way they breached the defences of the premises, and the state of the art security."

Asked if the thieves were likely to have targeted specific boxes, Mr Phillips said: "No, unless their information was really good it's unlikely they knew exactly what they were looking for.

"They would be likely to have gone for them randomly.

"Thankfully these sort of heists are extremely rare, but it's still terrible when they do happen."

Nearly all of the goods stored are believed to belong to those in the trade. Many were at the scene of the crime on Wednesday trying to get information.

One furious jeweller said: "Our business could be losing a lot of money today - I won't tell you how much.

"But I would guess that each box contains around £500,000, possibly more.

"So the thieves could have got something like £30 or £40 million. And that's just a conservative guess.

"I wouldn't want to be an insurer when the bill arrives.

"I need to wait to get a call from the police to find out what the damage is."

But other experts estimate the total to be up to £200million, which could make it the world's biggest jewellery theft.

It is feared a rare half-cut aqua diamond – worth £500,000 – could be among the stolen jewels.

One diamond dealer, Neil Duttson, who buys stones for private clients, said tracing any gems stolen in the heist would be nearly impossible.

"Once diamonds have been re-cut and polished there is no geological map," he said.

"I imagine they will be sat on for six months. You can expect some cheap diamonds will be coming on the market soon."

Another jewellery dealer was fuming as he waited outside the building for news of his deposit box. The man, who asked not to be named, said: "It had happened three times now. If my safe is all right I am taking it out of there."

Scotland Yard said it would take up top two days to complete a fingertip search of the premises. Those who had belongings in the boxes could be waiting days to find out if their goods were missing.

A police spokesman said: "Detectives and scenes of crime officers are currently carrying out a forensic examination of the scene at Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd. 

"This is a slow and painstaking process involving forensic examination, photographing the scene and recovering exhibits in meticulous detail in order to preserve the evidence. Officers anticipate this process to take approximately two days.

"At this stage it is believed that approximately 60 to 70 safety deposit boxes were opened during the burglary. 

"Officers are working closely with Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd to establish the identities of those affected. Police will be contacting victims directly as and when they are identified."

Nicholas Solden, 54, a jewellery dealer, described when the building was attacked around 12 years ago when £1.5million was taken. 

"In 2003 a gentleman, for want of a better word, managed to cut some keys and break in," he said.

"I don't know how much he took, but all the dealers were pretty shocked.

"I find it hard to believe that they allowed it to happen again. This is what we don't need as a business.

"A lot of people are going to lose out from this recent heist - someone's walked off with thousands of pounds.

"I'm really lucky that I haven't lost anything as I don't have a box here, but some people will be fuming."

It has also been reported that an alarm went off in the building on Good Friday giving the thieves four days to steal the goods. Yet the theft was not discovered until Tuesday morning

Norman Bean, who has a diamond ring and bracelets stored in a box, said he heard the alarm at the beginning of the weekend and told a security guard.

"I was devastated, I was shaken, I cannot believe it," he said.

"He just said he looked in, it all looked fine and I think he just went and that is it."

One jeweller and diamond dealer, who did not want to be named, said it was likely most people with boxes there would have insurance, but there would be "quite a few exceptions".

He said: "I think it is because people will want to save on the cost of insurance because it is an additional overhead that they can do away with.

"There is no system of vetting the contents of a box, so anything can be put in there. The deposit company doesn't know what is in there, but they presume by virtue of the fact that we are in a jewellery area of London it will be jewellery-related stock.

"It will be finished pieces of jewellery as well as unset gem stones."