Guard slashed in neck fighting off raiders at Hatton Garden jewellers

A security guard was slashed in the neck as he fought off moped raiders during an armed raid on a Hatton Garden jewellers.

The visibly shaken employee, in a white shirt and tie, was left with blood pouring from wounds as the two suspects fled empty-handed on a stolen moped.

Police were called to A Jewellers, which shares premises in London’s diamond quarter with the Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company, famously raided in 2015, at 2.45pm yesterday.

Dramatic video footage appears to show a man grappling with one attacker, armed with a knife, on the lobby floor.

Another video shows police officers tending the man’s wounds outside the building. He was reportedly taken to hospital where the gash was stitched.

Police at the scene outside the jeweller's in Hatton Garden
NIGEL HOWARD ©

The injured guard’s colleague, Tomasz Augustowski, 21, was punched in the face as the pair ran to confront the masked robbers in the stairwell.

He said: “They were coming down the last set of stairs. I got hit and he got slashed. He didn’t know what was coming.

“My friend ripped off their balaclavas so they could be seen by the cameras as they fled. He’s a hero — he ran straight towards danger.”

Witnesses said the “terrifying” raid happened in the firm’s offices, which are on the second floor of the building whose underground vaults were targeted by a gang of pensioners in the £14 million Easter Bank Holiday heist four years ago.

One person, who was inside at the time of this latest attack, said: “It just erupted. Two men came in. It looked like they were having an argument with a jeweller and then suddenly they started fighting. Someone must have pushed the panic button because a security guard came and then someone pulled out a knife.”

Another witness, who asked not to be named, added: “I was at work when I heard a commotion and came out to see a man with his head bleeding.

“He had a cut on his head ... if it was an inch deeper it probably would have been much worse. That jewellers seems to be cursed.”

Customer Odain Ivey, 34, added: “It’s terrifying for people who want to handle their goods but they can’t because they’re scared of robbers. I have possessions I can’t collect because of these robbers.”

Scotland Yard said the two men are believed to have escaped on a stolen moped. There have been no arrests.

A spokesman added: “Officers attended and found a security guard suffering from a head injury. The man was treated by the London Ambulance Service; his injury is not believed to be life-threatening.”

The building, in Farringdon, is home to a range of commercial suites and safe deposit facilities.

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