Hatton Garden burglar Basil ordered to pay back £6million or face seven more years in jail

THE Hatton Garden burglary raider known as "Basil" has been ordered to pay back nearly £6million of stolen money or serve an extra seven years in jail.

Michael Seed, 60, (pictured above) was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment in March 2019 after being found guilty of conspiracy to burgle, and conspiracy to conceal the proceeds.

Seed was found to have obtained a portion of the proceeds of the burglary of safe deposit boxes at Hatton Garden over the Easter Bank Holiday in 2015, with a calculated value of around £13.9million.

Following his conviction, Seed was made the subject of a confiscation order under the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA).

Following a one-day POCA hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in July, a judgment handed down at the same court today (Thursday, October 1) ruled that Seed must now pay back £5,997,684.93 within the next three months, or serve another seven years in jail.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Bedford, of the Met's Flying Squad, said: "The conviction and sentencing of Seed – more widely known as Basil - brought to a close one of the longest investigations in the Flying Squad’s history.

"He was responsible for accessing the Hatton Garden premises and disabling its security systems. He was the only outstanding suspect in the case until March last year when he was convicted.

"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.

"Proceeds of Crime orders have already been served against the other gang members, and through tenacity and hard work with colleagues at the Crown Prosecution Service we have now achieved a further order against Seed.

"Crime must not pay, and this should demonstrate the lengths we will go to ensure criminals are prevented from enjoying any financial benefit from criminality."

The Hatton Garden burglary, at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd, took place over the Easter weekend in 2015 and was described as the largest burglary ever in British history with goods stole of a an estimated total value of around £200million.