Top London safety deposit firm burgled amid Easter quiet

Burglars using heavy cutting equipment broke into several safety deposit boxes in a vault in London's Hatton Garden jewellery quarter over the Easter holiday, Scotland Yard said.

Officers from the Met’s Flying Squad are investigating the raid after police were called to the central London address at about 8.10am on Tuesday.

The raid is thought to have been perpetrated at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company over the Easter.

Safety deposit boxes at the store are mainly used by Hatton Garden jewellers, with reports suggesting up to 300 boxes might have been broken into.

Diamond jewellery expert Lewis Malka, who works on Hatton Garden, tweeted: "Quiet day in the office and then I find out one of my client's antique bracelets was stolen in the Hatton Garden robbery."

Mr Malka said the haul was likely to amount to “hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds”.

Lift shaft

He said: “From what I understand it happened over the weekend and it looked like they had come in through the lift shaft and gone into the basement where the safety deposit is.

“Most of the people who have got safety deposits there are people in the trade.

“I know for a fact that some of my work colleagues have got boxes down there and we are talking about hundreds and hundreds of thousands of pounds in goods.”

Mr Malka said the boxes were used to store both jewellery and loose diamonds in packets.

“The police aren’t allowing anyone in yet, so no one is too sure whose box has or hasn’t been touched,” he said.

“With the robbers having probably four days over the Easter weekend, there’s a good chance that they went through everything.”

It is not the first time safe deposit boxes have been targeted in the Hatton Garden area, which is well known for its diamond and gold trade.

In 2003 jewellery, cash and valuables worth an estimated £1.5 million were stolen when a criminal emptied a number of boxes at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Co after posing as a customer.

Officers in forensics suits could be seen leaving the Hatton Garden Safety Deposit building with evidence bags and boxes.

There was no visible damage to the outside of the property, other than a loose wire in the side of the door.

‘Loss is huge’

Thelma West, a gemologist, designer and private jeweller who works in London and Antwerp, tweeted: "Robbery at one of the biggest safe deposits in Hatton Garden over the Easter weekend. The loss is huge.

“A lot of jewellers and dealers put their stock in safe deposits over holiday periods. Easter and Pesach (the Jewish holiday of Passover, celebrated April 3 to 11 this year) meant very quiet Hatton Garden.”

Norman Bean, who has a diamond ring and bracelets stored in one of the vaults, said the burglars are believed to have entered through a lift shaft on Friday afternoon and evaded detection by security guards.

‘Alarm going off’

He said: “I came down and spoke to a security guard today. He said he came on Friday, the alarm was going off.

“He went downstairs, looked through the door, through the windows and couldn’t see anything and came out again, that was it.

“I said, ‘Well, why didn’t you open up and have a look in?’ He told me he doesn’t get paid enough.

“They could have been there all weekend, who knows?” It’s a disgrace, it’s like something out of a film. I can’t believe it could happen.”

Mr Bean said detectives told him he will find out on Wednesday afternoon if his valuables had been stolen.

London had a noted safety deposit raid when the Knightsbridge Safe Deposit Centre suffered what is thought to be one of the largest robberies in history in July 1987.

Two armed robbers asked to rent a safe deposit box and, after being shown into the vault, produced hand guns and made off with a hoard worth an estimated £60 million.

Valerio Viccei, the Italian mastermind behind the heist, was arrested as he returned to England to ship his Ferrari Testarrosa to Latin America and sentenced to 22 years.

Press Association