Mastermind of Heathrow 'Thomas Crown Affair' £7m heist jailed

The mastermind behind a £7 million heist reminiscent of the Thomas Crown Affair had criminal friends burgle an elderly lady's £1 million home to drive down the price, a court has heard. 

Rafaqat Hussain, 41, was said to be "at the heart of the conspiracy" which saw two Loomis van drivers steal cash belonging to Credit Suisse from inside a British Airways cargo depot at Heathrow airport. 

The audacious robbery was described in court as being worthy of a Hollywood script called 'The Heathrow Heist' and a classic 'inside job'. None of the money has ever been recovered. 

Hussain arranged to buy a house in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire with the stolen cash, the court heard.

After the heist he arranged for an old criminal acquaintance Gary Carrod, 33, to burgle the old lady's home in a bid to lower the price.

He smashed up the windows and caused it to flood, leaving the pensioner "very distressed", the court heard.

He was caught after he was heard on a police bug which had been placed in his Audi boasting "Mate it was the job. I f***ing robbed seven million," just over a month after the theft.

The recording device was placed in his car after police arrested Loomis van drivers Mohammed Siddique, 32, and Ranjeev Singh, 40, in March.

Hussain also boasted about how he could  "buy a Lambo" referring to a Lamborghini. He said that his share of the spoils was £2 million 

Bespectacled Hussain wept in the dock as his barrister Bairaj Bhatia said he had "failed his family" by carrying out a crime that "reminiscent of the script from the Thomas Crown Affair".

He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal, conspiracy to burgle and conspiracy to commit money laundering and was sentenced 10 years and three months. 

Siddique, 32, and Singh, 40, were each jailed for six and half years for conspiracy to steal, after being found guilty of conspiracy to steal.

Sentencing Judge Stephen John said: "You Siddique and Singh played your parts to perfection. You had been involved for a considerable period in the planning."

Addressing Hussain, he said: "You were an organiser, trying to keep your involvement at a distance.

"No doubt there were others in the plot as yet unidentified, but you were the principle, expecting a large slice of the proceeds and above Siddique and Singh in the hierarchy.

"You were involved with your wife, in a conspiracy to launder the proceeds and also to burgle the house of an 88-year-old lady.

"You and your wife intended to use part of the the proceeds to buy her home, but in a breathtaking example of further greed you and she decided you would arrange to have the house vandalised, the windows broken and plumbing destroyed, to force the vendor to reduce the price.

"As this elderly lady, selling to fund a place in a care home,had failed to notify her non-occupancy at the time of the burglary, her insurance avoided the policy so she had no redress.

"She is another victim of your criminality."