text: 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.
target: Daily Mirror published the first pictures of the six thieves on Saturday .
  Scotland Yard finally released images of only three raiders 21 hours later .
  Former Flying Squad chief said he 'has never heard of anything like this'
  Seemingly conflicting claims over who had footage first emerge .