Charges Dropped Against Hatton Garden Suspect

One of the first men held over the £20m Hatton Garden gems raid has had the charges against him dropped.

Paul Reader, 50, was released from Belmarsh prison after the prosecution told the judge at Woolwich Crown Court it was not offering any evidence against him.

Mr Reader, a car dealer, had faced two charges - conspiracy to burgle the Hatton Garden safe deposit centre and 'conspiracy to convert or transfer criminal property, namely a quantity of jewellery and other items'.

At a hearing six weeks ago he had denied both charges.

Prosecutor Philip Evans offered no explanation for the change of heart by the Crown Prosecution Service.

Mr Reader had been held as a Category A high-security prisoner since his arrest in May, seven weeks after a gang drilled through the basement vault and stole around £20m of jewellery, gems and cash over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

He left the prison in a car with relatives and was expected to return to the family home in Dartford, Kent.

He was arrested there with his father Brian Reader, 76, in one of a series of dawn police raids in May.

Reader senior is one of four men who have pleaded guilty to their part in the raid, while another four have denied the charges and are to go on trial next week.

Four other defendants face lesser charges and are expected to enter pleas at a separate hearing soon.