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Police inquiry into why intruder alarm at Hatton Garden safety deposit premises was ignored during robbery (13 April 2015)

Date: 13/04/2015
Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Police inquiry into why intruder alarm at Hatton Garden safety deposit premises was ignored during robbery

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed that officers were alerted to an intruder alarm sounding at the Hatton Garden Safety Deposit premises over the Easter weekend when a multimillion pound raid occurred – and are looking into why no officers attended the scene at the time.

BBC News reports that the Met Police said they received a call on Friday, 3 April at 00.21BST – but no officers attended because the alert was given a grade that meant no police attendance was required.

Around 70 safety deposit boxes were opened and the items inside stolen at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd over the Easter Bank Holiday.

It has been reported that thieves avoided the strongroom’s reinforced door by drilling through a wall in a lift shaft.

It has also previously been reported that the alarm system had been newly installed and was not switched on at the time of the raid. There have been suggestions that insider knowledge of the safety deposit premises enabled the thieves to carry out the raid undetected.

The Mirror newspaper has obtained CCTV footage apparently showing the gang who carried out the raid on the premises, however. The men in the CCTV footage are wearing high-visibility jackets outside the safety deposit building, with one pushing a wheelie bin.

The Mirror reports this might have been used to conceal the large drill needed to break in through a hole in the lift shaft.

It is also reported that according to the CCTV footage, the men made two separate visits to the premises, before leaving on Easter Sunday with the contents of 72 safety deposit boxes in wheelie bins and bags.

The gang made their getaway from Hatton Garden in a white van.

The Mirror says a source told the newspaper that the raid was the work of a professional gang who “planned this job down to every last detail”.

Police have declined to comment on the claims – but have issued a statement about police failure to attend the site when the burglar alarm was triggered:

“It is too early to say if the handling of the call would have had an impact on the outcome of the incident,” the statement reads.

BBC Home Affairs Correspondent Danny Shaw said:

“It is quite possible – and this is certainly one aspect that the inquiry will be looking at – that there have been so many false alarms previously that the police had decided not to respond to any more alerts.

“There is a police policy that if there are three false alarms in a 12-month period, they won't respond any more when intruder alarms go off – and it is possible that may well have been what happened here.”

The BBC also reports that police officers have spoken to a security guard at the building.

No arrests have yet been made.

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