Hatton Garden jewellery raider Terry Perkins dies

One of the £14m Hatton Garden jewellery raiders, Terry Perkins, has died in prison aged 69.

Perkins from Enfield, north London, was serving a jail term for the "largest burglary in English legal history".

One of four ringleaders of the 2015 raid, he was last week ordered to pay back £6,526,571 or face a further seven-year jail term.

Perkins and his fellow raiders stole goods after drilling into a vault at London's Hatton Garden Safe Deposit.

He was serving his sentence in HMP Belmarsh and is believed to have been ill for some time.

In a statement, the Prison Service said: "As with all deaths in custody, there will be an independent investigation by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman."

• Who were the jewellery heist raiders?

• In pictures: How the Hatton Garden plot played out

• Ringleaders ordered to pay £27.5m

Perkins was jailed for seven years, alongside two of the ringleaders, John "Kenny" Collins, 77, and Daniel Jones, 63, after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary in 2016.

Fellow ringleader Brian Reader, 78, who was too ill to attend the initial sentencing, was later jailed for six years and three months.

Terry Perkins was one of four ringleaders who carried out the raid in 2015

Last Tuesday, the gang members were ordered to pay back £27.5m between them or have their sentences increased.

Judge Christopher Kinch QC said the men jointly benefitted from an estimated £13.69m worth of stolen cash, gold and gems.

Peter Rowlands, Perkins' barrister, said his client - who had been diagnosed with "severe heart failure" - would have to serve the extra time as there was "no prospect" of any further funds being recovered.

During last week's hearing, the judge said if any of the four could raise £6.4m to pay back, the others would each have that total taken off their confiscation order.

If that were the case it would bring the total amount paid back by the burglars to about £8.2m.

The vault at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd was breached over the 2015 Easter weekend

Perkins was caught after Hatton Garden investigators installed a listening device in his blue Citroen Saxo, on which he was recorded saying he planned to use his share of the spoils to fund his pension.

He was arrested with Collins and Jones, having dropped off a holdall containing some of the loot.

Perkins celebrated his birthday during the raid and was involved in all stages of the operation, including disposing of the stolen goods.

He was inside the Hatton Garden building posing as a builder and "working" inside the lift on 31 March during the raid, which was carried out over the Easter weekend in 2015.

When his home was searched police found jewellery, cash, blue workman's overalls and five pairs of white fabric gloves that were used by the burglars who aimed to leave no forensic evidence at the scene.