Mystery surrounds the sensational CCTV footage showing the gem thieves in the middle of their audacious £60million heist after it was suggested that the police had missed this crucial evidence . The Daily Mirror published sensational pictures of the Hatton Garden raiders 21 hours before Scotland Yard released them in a bid to appeal for information about identities of the thieves . The tabloid claims it handed the images to police , who were 'delighted ' , according to a report today in its sister title The Sunday Mirror , with an apparent source saying it 'blows the case wide open ' . But yesterday afternoon detectives insisted they already had the CCTV footage , which they claim was recovered 'at the earliest opportunity ' . Pictured : The Met has released images of three of the gang which broke into Hatton Garden over the Easter weekend - but has only done so after the shots were revealed by the Daily Mirror . Audacious : Exactly why the police did not release the images beforehand is unclear - especially as the tabloid 's sister paper The Sunday Mirror claims they are the key to 'cracking the case wide open ' This is in stark contrast with the response given to MailOnline hours before , when police refused to say whether they had the footage . The Met finally released the pictures late on Saturday afternoon , while The Mirror could sell the images to a number of other national titles , including this website . Up until that point , no other newspaper was able to help the police trace the culprits of what could be the biggest ever robbery in Britain . It raises questions about why the police chose to keep them to themselves - or whether they even had the footage . Speaking to Radio 4 's Today programme this morning , former Flying Squad chief John O'Connor said : ' I 've never heard of anything like this . ' I 'm not blaming The Mirror , but I am pointing some quite accusing fingers at the police for not finding it themselves . ' Questions : Former Flying Squad chief John O'Connor said he had 'never heard of anything like ' a newspaper getting such crucial footage before the police got their hands on it - although police now say they had it . It is likely to put further pressure on an investigation which has already been accused of a number of failings . Owners of the security deposit boxes are continuing to demand answers on why police failed to respond to the alarm when it first went off over the long weekend . And now the MailOnline has revealed some have resorted to bribing security guards , as they desperately try to find out information about what has been lost . The gang is thought to have hidden in an office before abseiling down a lift shaft and drilling into a vault . The CCTV will have gone some way to answering questions for those who lost thousands of pounds in the theft . It reveals how the raiders entered the building by a side door on Thursday evening , minutes after staff left the premises . They then entered the basement through the lift shaft , and broke through the shutters before spending hours in the vault - emerging the next morning carrying the gems out the building in a wheelie bin . They then returned on Saturday night , apparently repeating the process throughout the night , leaving early on the morning of Easter Sunday . The burglary was discovered on Tuesday morning . Police have now said 72 out of the vaults 999 boxes were opened .
Daily Mirror published the first pictures of the six thieves on Saturday . Scotland Yard finally released images of only three raiders this morning later . Former Flying Squad chief said he 'has never heard of anything like this ' Seemingly conflicting claims over who had footage first emerge .