A BURGLAR who was part of the Hatton Garden heist was mistakenly freed after officials wrongly “miscalculated” his sentence, it has been revealed.
Michael Seed took part in the infamous heist on security deposit boxes in London’s diamond district Hatton Garden over the Easter bank holiday weekend in April 2015.
Michael Seed was accidentally released from prison after being sentenced for the Hatton Garden job
The huge hole drilled by the gang to ransack the safe depositCredit: EPA
The notorious thief, dubbed “Basil”, spent six month on the loose before being hauled back behind bars earlier this month, it has been revealed.
The 65-year-old crook was part of the grey-haired gang who swiped £13.6million in jewels and valuables during the raid on Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Ltd.
Seed was jailed for 10 years in March 2019 and was not due for release until June 2027.
But in an astonishing blunder, Seed was mistakenly freed from HMP High Down in August last year after officials miscalculated the length of his sentence.
He remained at large until February 5 – when he was finally returned to to continue his stretch.
The Ministry of Justice confirmed Seed was “released in error” from HMP High Down, in Sutton, Surrey, on August 12 2025.
A spokesman for the MoJ said: “A prisoner who was released in error from HMP High Down last August has been returned to custody.
“These cases have exposed deep-rooted issues across the broken justice system the Government inherited.
“We’re determined to bear down on these mistakes and keep the public safe, which is why we’ve introduced tougher new checks, launched an independent into releases in error and are millions to modernise to replace archaic paper-based systems.”
were filmed removing wheelie bins full of gold and jewels over the 2015 Easter weekend in what became one of the biggest raids of the 21st century.
One of the key ringleaders of the infamous raid, Seed knocked out the alarms and let his fellow burglars into the central London vault during the infamous heist.
Wearing a red wig as a disguise, he was one of two men who climbed into the vault through a hole drilled through a thick wall to loot 73 deposit boxes.
Seed managed to dodge capture when five of his fellow plotters were nicked in 2015.
But he was finally arrested in 2018 and jailed for 10 years in March 2019.
In 2022, he was slapped with another six-and-a-half years after failing to repay his ill-gotten gains.
Gold bars, gems and worth £143,000 were also discovered stashed inside his council flat in Islington, North London.
During the infamous robbery in 2015, Seed was simply known as ‘Basil’ by the other robbers.
It was claimed the nickname stood for “Best Alarms Specialist in London”.
Seed was living less than two miles away in a council flat in Islington but failed to catch him for three years but was finally caught in 2018.
During the raid he was disguised in a ginger wig, facemask and hat and left no forensic trace at the scene.
He had previously been behind bars in the 1980s for offences and it was revealed he had never paid any tax, never claimed any and had no obvious source of income.
Seed was raised in , the son of a university professor and went on to study physics and electronics after gaining four A-levels in maths, physics, chemistry and geology.
Inside the vault in Hatton GardenCredit: Dan Jones – The Sun
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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