ONE OF THE Hatton Garden raiders, known as Basil, has been ordered to pay back nearly £6 million (€6.5 million) from the £13.6 million (€14.9) heist or serve an extra seven years in jail.
Alarm specialist Michael Seed (60) is the final member of the Hatton Garden burglary gang to be jailed in a March 2019 conviction which closed “one of the longest investigations in the Flying Squad’s history”, Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Mark Bedford said.
Seed was told at London’s Woolwich Crown Court that he must now pay back £5,997,684.93 within the next three months or serve another seven years in jail.
It follows a proceeds of crime hearing which was held at the same court in July.
Seed was jailed for 10 years in March 2019 after becoming the 10th person to be convicted in connection with the 2015 Easter Bank Holiday weekend heist.
Seed is believed to have let himself into the building in London’s diamond district using a set of keys, before defeating the security system.
He was one of two men who climbed into the vault to loot 73 safe deposit boxes after the gang of veteran criminals drilled through a thick concrete wall.
Seed evaded capture for three years before police raided his flat in Islington, north London, around two miles from Hatton Garden, in March 2018.
He denied any involvement in the heist, but was found guilty of conspiring to burgle, handle stolen goods and convert or transfer criminal property.
Judge Christopher Kinch during the March 2019 sentencing, told Seed: “Your role was a central one.
“You were at the heart of the core activities that had to be carried out.
“You were not just there to fetch and carry.
“In my judgment this must rank among the worst offences of its type.”
After today’s proceeds of crime hearing ruling Mr Bedford, of the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad, said Seed was responsible for accessing the Hatton Garden premises and disabling its security systems.
He said: “To date we have recovered just over a third of the property stolen from Hatton Garden, and much of it has already been returned to the victims.
“We have always said that the end of the trials for those involved did not mark the end of this investigation.
“Over many years specialist financial investigators have been working hard to locate outstanding property and identify the assets of these defendants.”
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