policing in the UK is represented by some key concepts:
box ticking
corruption
sleeping on the job
"oh, ignore that, it's broken"
we're lucky to have 70 million sheep to protect
"you got no proof for that"
"you got no proof for that"
This story has all of those concepts.
So, this big Easter egg of a robbery is the most English of jobs.
To sum up, every cop went to sleep over the long
Easter holiday weekend, thinking that every one of their
sheep was sitting on a patio getting sauced on fizzy beer.
The thieves started on Thursday night. They didn't hit an alarm
until Friday night. They split the scene fearing.....the cops,
who seem to have decided that the alarm was too sensitive.
The cops didn't even drive past. A security company did, but
didn't do a full report on the full site.
The thieves came back over Saturday and Sunday and
cleaned out 70-something safe-deposit boxes. In the
jewellery district that means a mass of untraceable
rocks.
Where's Michael Cane when you need him?
All the head-shaking story
checkit: the Guardian
Hatton Garden jewellery raid: CCTV footage emerges
Video shows at least six men arriving at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company’s building in London’s jewellery quarter
Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company building
It is thought that millions of pounds’ worth of jewels, gold and cash were stolen in the raid on the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company.
Dominic Smith and agencies
Saturday 11 April 2015 10.39 BST Last modified on Saturday 11 April 2015 11.38 BST
CCTV footage has emerged reportedly showing a gang of robbers executing the Hatton Garden jewellery heist over the Easter weekend.
A video obtained by the Mirror shows at least six men arriving at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company’s building in the London jewellery quarter on Thursday evening.
The paper said the men made two separate visits before leaving on Easter Sunday with the contents of 72 safety deposit boxes in wheelie bins and bags, and making a getaway in a white van.
The footage comes a day after it emerged that police were alerted to an intruder alarm just after midnight on Good Friday but did not respond. Scotland Yard said it was “too early to say if the handling of the call would have had an impact on the outcome of the incident”. The Metropolitan police declined to comment on the CCTV footage.
It is thought that millions of pounds’ worth of jewels, gold and cash were stolen in the raid. Many of the owners of the high-value deposit boxes had no insurance on items worth several thousands of pounds.
The CCTV footage appears to confirm reports that the men had several days to carry out the raid, with the heist taking place over the Easter weekend. A source was quoted as saying: “This was clearly the work of a professional gang who planned this job down to every last detail. But they may have made a mistake in leaving this footage behind.”
Cops and ex-robbers on Hatton Garden heist: 'This is no bunch of mugs'
Read more
In a 17-minute video published on the Mirror’s website, the camera centres on a doorway, with an adjacent intercom, at the bottom of a stairway to the street.
Several men appear wearing hi-vis jackets and masks, and are seen carrying tool boxes and holdalls. Some manoeuvre wheelie bins in and out of the building, before a white van is driven away shortly before 7am on Easter Sunday which the paper says contained the bins and bags.
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It was not until Tuesday morning – more than four days later – that the raid was discovered.
Ex-robbers told the Guardian on Friday that the expensive goods could already have been taken out of the country. One said:“This is no bunch of mugs. They’re never going to be nicking this stuff without it having a place to go to already arranged.”
Depositors reacted with fury to the news that police did not respond to the initial alarm. One identified only as Simon, 46, said his brother had an uninsured box worth £150,000 containing diamonds, platinum and gold.
“I’m very angry. It’s my brother’s life down there and the worst thing is we don’t know what’s happened,” he said.
“You would imagine the police would come straight away, wouldn’t you, on a street like this? It’s absolutely ridiculous. That place should have been wired to the police straight away. It’s all going to come out isn’t it. But that doesn’t help us. We’re in limbo and struggling.”
