Hatton Garden jury shown Bond Street raid video

  • Published
Michael SeedImage source, Julia Quenzler
Image caption,

Michael Seed is alleged to have played a key role in two heists

Some of the Hatton Garden burglars' failed attempts to drill into a safe at a Bond Street jewellers containing £40m worth of gems have been shown in court.

Michael Seed, 58, denies he was an alarm expert nicknamed "Basil" who played a key role in both heists.

Footage filmed inside the Chatila store shortly after it was burgled over the August bank holiday in 2010, was shown to a jury on Thursday.

Pictures revealed empty display cabinets sprayed with a white liquid.

Woolwich Crown Court heard how a similar fluid was found on safe deposit boxes at 88-90 Hatton Garden after an estimated £13.7m of gold, cash and gems was looted through a hole drilled in the vault wall over the 2015 Easter bank holiday weekend.

Image source, Metropolitan Police
Image caption,

Footage alleged to show Michael Seed carrying a black bin bag was shown at Woolwich Crown Court

Det Sgt Jamie Day told how a Chubb Sovereign safe in the Bond Street jewellers was targeted with a drill after the store's alarm systems were tampered with.

"Holes were made into the plasterboard around the safe. The actual door of the safe itself had been drilled."

Det Sgt Day told jurors the safe was not breached, but said the raiders made off with £1m worth of jewellery from the store's display cabinets.

Five men, Brian Reader, 79, John "Kenny" Collins, 78, Daniel Jones, 63, Carl Wood, 61, and Terry Perkins, who died aged 69 last year, have been convicted of conspiring to carry out the burglary in Hatton Garden.

Image source, Met Police
Image caption,

The vault wall at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit was drilled through

The probe into the heist revealed some of the same men had committed the "strikingly similar" burglary of the Chatila store, the court heard.

Mr Seed is alleged to have taken part in the the raid with Jones, who pleaded guilty to the burglary, and Perkins, who died in prison in 2018.

Mr Seed denies two charges of conspiracy to commit burglary and one charge of conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property.

The trial continues.

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