Phil Daniels kept 'apologising' over fears he would upset real-life criminals with role in The Hatton Garden Job

The star of The Hatton Garden Job joked he doesn’t want real lags to come after him
Emma Powell13 April 2017
The Weekender

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Phil Daniels says he feared upsetting real-life criminals when he took on the role of one of the Hatton Garden jewel thieves — but is pretty sure he did a good job as he isn’t aware of any “hits” out on him.

In new movie, The Hatton Garden Job, the actor plays Danny Jones, one of the criminals who pulled off the £14 million heist. It is the biggest burglary in English legal history.

Daniels, famed for his roles in Quadrophenia and EastEnders, said: “I keep wanting to apologise every now and then on screen and say, ‘Look, if I’m upsetting any of you guys, the real villains, please, it’s not my fault.’

“You don’t want to upset people or portray them badly, villain or no villain. I think there’s been contact and we’re OK. There are no hits on us … yet.”

Breaking in: Matthew Goode drills through the underground vault

The gang became known as the “diamond wheezers” because many were at or near retirement age when they carried out the heist in 2015, drilling through thick concrete to break into 73 security boxes.

Daniels told the Standard: “They were old geezers. It’s one for the grandads out there. We’re not useless after all. We can still work.

“I think if they’d have got away with it they would have done another job. If the opportunity is there, it’s like us with acting, you’re going to do it.”

The ringleaders were Brian Reader, 78, Terry Perkins, 69, John “Kenny” Collins, 76, and Jones, 62. In the movie, directed by Ronnie Thompson, Larry Lamb plays Reader — who was known as “The Master” or “The Guvnor”— Clive Russell is driver Collins, and David Calder is “muscle” Perkins.

The gang posed as workmen to drill into the vault at the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit company over Easter weekend 2015 without leaving a forensic trace.

At Woolwich crown court last year Jones, Collins, Perkins and Reader admitted conspiracy to burgle. The first three were jailed for seven years and Reader was sentenced to six years and three months. Three other men were also convicted over the plot.

One man, known only as “Basil”, has never been caught — and is played by Matthew Goode in the film.

Hatton Garden heist: Inside the ransacked vault

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The Hatton Garden Job is out tomorrow.

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