The mastermind behind the biggest burglary in English history is too ill to appear in court.

Dartford pensioner Brian Reader, said to be the ringleader of the gang responsible for the£14m Hatton Garden raid, is currently in Belmarsh Prison's hospital wing and has not appeared for sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court this week.

Yesterday it was revealed that the 77-year-old may only have months to live and March 21 has now been set as a possible fallback date for his sentencing.

The pensioner was taken into hospital last month after suffering a stroke.

Reader is thought to have received treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital and footage of him being escorted by an armed guard was broadcast by Sky News.

Over the weekend, Reader's lawyer questioned whether Reader - the so-called "guv'nor" - should have been escorted by armed police in hospital.

Reader's accomplices - John Collins, 75, Daniel Jones, 61, Terry Perkins, 67, Carl Wood, 59, William Lincoln, 60, and Hugh Doyle, 49 - are expected to be sentenced tomorrow morning.

Reader pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary last September alongside Collins, Jones and Perkins.

Wood, of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire and Lincoln, of Winkley Street, Bethnal Green, were convicted of conspiracy to commit burglary and conspiracy to conceal, convert or transfer criminal property, after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

Doyle, of Enfield, north London, was found guilty of concealing, converting or transferring criminal property between January 1 and May 19 last year.

They all face years in prison for their part in the raid, which saw the gang steal gold and cash from London’s famous jewellery quarter at the centre of the UK diamond trade last Easter.