The 2015 Easter weekend Hatton Garden raid saw a gang led by some fairly mature ringleaders get away with £14m worth of cash, jewellery, gold and gems.

 

Reports suggest that the offenders left no forensic clues, they hid their faces well from most CCTV cameras, and they escaped on their first visit (for it seems they returned, later) despite a security guard knowing that the alarm had gone off.

 

This group of career criminals have now received hefty prison sentences and may well be ruing the day they let themselves down due to a child-like naivety: it’s reported that after the raid, they switched on their mobiles, never stopping to think that police would be tracking their calls; they then met to talk about what they’d done; and they were oblivious to police bugging their cars.

In short, it’s suggested that the digital age let them down because they didn’t keep up with it.

A lot of people were affected by their actions, and I would never wish to make light of the suffering they caused to many people, or ignore the fact that theirs was a criminal act. 

Rather, to ask . . . I wonder how many of us wish we’d taken advantage of that little bit of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) offered to us at a time when we thought we were too busy to accept?  

I’m glad our ageing raiders didn’t brush up on their skills … but you?  You’ve got every opportunity to be at the top of your game.  Please make sure you take it.