The Hatton Garden jewellery raid that took place in London in April will be made into a film.

Rights to the story, which involved the robbery of gold and gems worth £10m from a safe deposit box over Easter weekend, have been purchased by Legacy Corporation Ltd and film bosses are reportedly seeking 'Legend' actor Tom Hardy to play a lead role in the movie.

A source told The Sun newspaper: ''The whole country was talking about the Hatton raid.''

The film will be named 'Thief' and will tell the story of the gang who used a drill to bore a hole 50cm deep, 25cm high and 45cm wide into the wall of the vault.

It is thought the nine men - six of whom were over the age of 50 - disabled the lift so they could climb down the shaft to the basement where they ransacked 73 safety deposit boxes.

London's Metropolitan police apologised for its lack of action after failing to respond to a telephone call from a security firm that sounded an alarm at the building at midnight on Good Friday.

One of the men, Danny Jones - who is currently in Belmarsh Prison - is writing his autobiography which will reportedly be turned into a screenplay.