Ringleader in London’s Hatton Garden heist gets 10 years

LONDON – The ringleader of a gang that stole millions in jewelry from a London safe-deposit storehouse has been sentenced to 10 years in prison — four years after the audacious heist.

Alarm specialist Michael Seed, 58, led a gang of mostly elderly men who drilled through a concrete vault wall and ransacked more than 70 safe-deposit boxes in the Hatton Garden jewelry district in April 2015. Prosecutors say they stole cash, jewelry and gold worth more than 14 million pounds ($20 million).

Six men have been convicted. Seed, who was also known as “Basil,” was the last of the gang to be sentenced.

Seed, who pays no taxes and rarely uses a bank account, evaded capture for three years before police raided his flat in north London last year.