Hatton Garden
A woman believed to be a police forensics officer emerges from a Hatton Garden safe deposit centre on April 7, 2015 in London, England. Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Some of the UK's top footballers could be among the victims of the Hatton Garden safe deposit raid.

Over the Easter weekend, thieves helped themselves to jewels worth an estimated £200 million ($298m, €275m) which were stored at the diamond centre in Holborn, central London.

It has now emerged that the company commissions work for a number of Premier League stars, providing exclusive orders of custom made jewellery for wives and girlfriends and for the footballers themselves.

A source told Sky News: "Players have almost unlimited spending power and love to outdo each other with extravagant purchases, especially where jewellery is concerned. It's only natural they would go to the renowned craftsmen of Hatton Garden to place their orders."

I've never heard of an outage of electricity like that causing a fire that lasted as long as that. That seems to me too much of a coincidence.
- John O'Connor, former head of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad,

Flying squad detectives said up to 70 safe deposit boxes were broken open, but they had not informed the victims because forensic work was still going on.

The raiders are believed to have broken into the building through the roof and abseiled down a lift shaft. They then disabled the vault alarm before cutting through the 18in metal door using heavy cutting equipment.

Describing the heist as "sophisticated" and "highly organised" former Flying Squad chief Barry Phillips said the stolen jewellery and precious stones will already be out of the country.

Meanwhile, in a further twist to the mystery, it has been speculated that a major underground fire in Holborn which caused extensive disruption to the capital, may have been deliberately started by the burglars behind the Hatton Garden jewel heist.

John O'Connor, former head of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad, said the blaze, which sparked a huge power cut in central London, caused a massive power outage, leaving the vaults at the Hatton Garden Safety Deposit Ltd easier to access.

Mr O'Connor told LBC: "Yeah, I think that probably was deliberate. I've never heard of an outage of electricity like that causing a fire that lasted as long as that. That seems to me too much of a coincidence.

There is nothing in the investigation to suggest a connection but we're looking at all lines of enquiry.
- Scotland Yard

"[Police] are also going to be looking for where the inside information came from. If you know how to bypass all of the security devices, you're gonna have to have a detailed layout of the whole of the business. So clearly they got that from somebody on the inside," he explained.

"If I was a betting man, I would say they would arrest a handful of people that were involved in the actual obtaining of the diamonds - I doubt if they'll get the diamonds back."

He added he thought between five to eight people were likely to have been involved in the heist.

Mr O'Connor added: "There was a lot of work that went into that. There was a lot of material to be moved. There was a lot of hard work. You need people who are fit."

A spokesman for Scotland Yard would not confirm or deny the link between the two incidents today stating: "There is nothing in the investigation to suggest a connection but we're looking at all lines of enquiry."

Police have not put a value on the goods stolen, but estimates vary widely from hundreds of thousands of pounds to £200m.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or call the Flying Squad directly on 020 8785 8655.

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