One of the Hatton Garden burglary conspirators has guided police to his buried loot, after initially complaining to Sky News that they were ignoring him.
Daniel Jones, 58, is one of four men who have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle the safe deposit centre in Hatton Garden on Easter weekend this year.
He was said to have been taken from prison at about noon on Thursday, under armed guard and with a police helicopter flying above, to show detectives his north London hiding place, Edmonton cemetery.
According to Sky News reports he was taken to the cemetery and then immediately returned to Belmarsh prison, while a dozen officers in forensic suits began digging and ten more stood guard. His solicitor witnessed the operation and police took photographs that could be used in evidence against Jones, it was reported.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that property was recovered from the cemetery but would not say exactly what or how much it was worth.
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A statement from the Met said: “On October 15 officers from the Met Police Flying Squad searched a venue in north London as part of an ongoing investigation where property was recovered.”
Jones last week wrote to the Sky News crime correspondent Martin Brunt complaining that police had rejected his offer to show them where his share of the bounty was.
He wrote: “I’ve instructed my solicitor… to tell the police Flying Squad that I want to give back my share of [the] Hatton Garden burglary, they said it’s in motion.
“I now understand that the police said that the prison Belmarsh won’t release me to the police. What a load of bull.”
The £20 million theft took place over Easter bank holiday weekend, when the group tunnelled their way through a concrete wall to steal from the safe deposit centre.
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Jones and three others are awaiting sentence for their parts in the crime. In the meantime, Jones has been “trying to put things right”.
The value of items stolen in the raid was initially put at £10 million, but this rose to £20 million on later estimates.
Some of the property has been recovered, but Philip Evans, speaking for the prosecuition at a court hearing last week, said that valuables worth many millions were still missing.
In his letter to Mr Brunt, Jones said that if police did not take him to the stash he hoped somebody else would find it.
“If I don’t get the chance to go out under armed escort,” he wrote, “I hope some poor sod who’s having it hard out there with his or her family find the lot and have a nice life, as you never know, Martin, people do find things, don’t they?”
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Five others have pleaded not guilty and are due to face trial next month.