The children of Brian Reader, one of the masterminds of the £14m Hatton Garden burglary, have complained to the Ministry of Justice about the treatment of their father who is seriously ill and handcuffed to a prison officer in a hospital bed.
Paul and Joanne Reader say they have been prevented from visiting their father in hospital and they are extremely concerned about his deteriorating health.
“I don’t want him to come out of there in a box,” his daughter, Joanne, told the Guardian on Monday. “We are now extremely worried.”
In a letter to Reader’s Dartford MP, Gareth Johnson, his son and daughter say that their father, aged 77 and in Queen Elizabeth hospital in Woolwich, south-east London, “is gravely ill, cannot walk unaided, cannot hear, has lost the sight in one eye due to a recent stroke and is handcuffed to a prison officer.”
It is understood that Johnson’s office is contacting the justice secretary, Michael Gove, to raise the issue.
The Readers say they were told by two prison officers and two police officers at the hospital that they could not see him. The family have also contacted Belmarsh prison, where Reader is serving his sentence, to express their concerns.
“We have no idea why we have been suspended from seeing our father, and our solicitor, Mr Hesham Puri from MK Law, has been contacting the governor’s office both by letter and telephone on a daily basis with absolutely no response,” said Paul and Joanne Reader.
“Mr Puri had a legal visit with my father and was shocked at his rapid deterioration and feels it is totally unjust and inhumane to keep his family from him.” Puri said he had also contacted the MoJ to ask that the ban on family visits be lifted and the handcuffs removed.
An MoJ spokesperson said: “We do not comment on individual prisoners. Security when prisoners are in hospital is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Public protection is always our number one priority.”
Brian Reader was sentenced in March at Woolwich crown court, along with six co-defendants, to six years’ imprisonment for his part in the burglary, which took place in Easter last year. Along with Terry Perkins and Danny Jones, Reader was seen as a key player in the burglary, which netted about £14m, most of which is still missing.
Police are still hunting for one more burglar known only as Basil, and there is a £20,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. At least four films about the burglars, known as the “Diamond Wheezers” because of their age, are being planned.
