Hatton Garden gang member Brian Reader fails to get sentence cut

The oldest member of the Hatton Garden jewellery raid gang has failed to get his sentence reduced.

Brian "the guv'nor" Reader was jailed for six years and three months in March for his role in the £14m break-in.

Judges at the Court of Appeal in London were asked to show "mercy" to the 77-year-old following a "dramatic" deterioration in his health.

But Mr Justice Flaux and Mr Justice Edis rejected the plea, saying his sentence was "not in any sense manifestly excessive."

Reader, of Dartford, Kent, one of the jewellery gang's ringleaders, had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.

The meticulously-planned heist, said to be the biggest ever in Britain, was carried out over the Easter weekend last year.

The gang ransacked 73 boxes at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit in London after using a drill to bore a hole into the vault wall.

Valuables including gold, diamonds and sapphires were taken, and two-thirds have yet to be recovered.

Mr Justice Flaux said the sentencing judge at Woolwich Crown Court was "well aware" of Reader's serious health problems and this was reflected in his sentence.

Dismissing Reader's case, he said: "The reality is that this elderly offender with health problems chose to commit this extremely serious offence in 2015."

Reader's sentencing was delayed after he suffered a stroke in Belmarsh Prison.

When handing down his sentence, Judge Christopher Kinch said he took into account the fact that Reader was "seriously unwell".

He pointed out that although he was not present on the second night of the raid, he was there on the first night and during "at least one dry run".

Reader's previous convictions go back more than 60 years, including one for burglary in 1950.

The other five members of the gang were given jail terms of six and seven years.