text: Detectives investigating the Hatton Garden gem heist missed the most crucial CCTV footage so far until it was flagged up by a shocked worker more than one week later, it is claimed. The 'crystal clear' footage - said to be of a significantly higher quality than the video currently in the public domain - was handed into the Metropolitan Police by a worker based 50ft from the crime scene. The worker had reportedly contacted 101 - the police non-emergency number - on Monday last week, believing detectives would already have similar images of the £60m raid. Scroll down for video . Detectives investigating the Hatton Garden gem heist missed the most crucial CCTV footage so far until it was flagged up by a shocked worker more than one week later, it is claimed . But, even though police raced to obtain the CCTV once the report was made, the force has refused to make the images public – despite claims it is the best footage yet. It comes after the force was criticised  for ignoring an alarm that went off just after midnight on Good Friday - four days before the raid was discovered. A veteran trader in the London ­jewellery quarter told The Sunday Mirror: 'It is unreal it took this employee to bring these images to the attention of the police. The ­footage could be crucial in collaring the crooks. 'You would assume the officers had done everything to get CCTV footage.' Scotland Yard has already come under fire for its handling of the heist, with the ex-head of the Flying Squad John O’Connor criticising the decision to ignore the alarm as 'totally incompetent'. The Southern Monitoring Alarm Company had contacted the Metropolitan Police’s Central Communications Command after the robbers set off the alarm  on Good Friday. But although police recorded the call, it was graded so that ‘no police response was deemed to be required’. It was not until Tuesday morning that detectives realised what had happened. When asked why the new footage had not been released, a police spokesman said the force would not discuss 'specifics' of CCTV being examined and would release appropriate footage when needed for a public appeal. The 'crystal clear' footage is said to be of a significantly higher quality than the video currently in the public domain, which was released last week (pictured) Last week, questioned were raised over the police's handling of the case after CCTV footage showing the robbers at work was published in The Daily Mirror - 21 hours before they were released by Scotland Yard . They said: 'The Metropolitan Police has ­obtained and is examining a substantial amount of CCTV footage in relation to the burglary at Hatton Garden Safe Deposit. 'This footage has come from many different places. We will not discuss the specifics of the CCTV we are examining and will release information in a timely manner for appeal purposes only. 'Police continue to seize CCTV with assistance from members of the public as the investigation progresses.' Last week, questioned were raised over the police's handling of the case after CCTV footage showing the robbers at work was published in The Daily Mirror, 21 hours before they were released by Scotland Yard. Mahendra Bavishi, joint director of the safe deposit company, said he was furious at police for ignoring an alarm which went off just on Good Friday . The tabloid claims it handed the images to police, who were 'delighted' with the find. One source said the footage 'blows the case wide open'. But detectives later insisted they already had the CCTV footage, which they claim was recovered 'at the earliest opportunity'. Hours earlier, police had refused to tell MailOnline whether they had the footage. The furore raised questions about why the police chose to keep the footage to themselves - or whether they even had the footage - despite it being one of the largest ever burglaries in the capital. But officers from Scotland Yard's Flying Squad did release images of three suspects. They refused to release a picture of the supposed ringleader, likely because he has already been identified. Earlier this week, Mahendra Bavishi, the joint director of the safe deposit company robbed in the raid, said  he believed it was an inside job. Mr Bavishi, who lives in Sudan, said detectives had asked to put some ‘sensitive’ questions to his British-based son Manish who runs the business - including whether he suspects someone connected to the company or other firms in the same premises had links with criminal gangs. He added that the robbers almost certainly had some inside information because they appeared to know that several CCTV cameras in the building where his firm is based were not working when they broke in. The 69-year-old also told of his fury at police for ignoring the alert from the state of the art alarm in the vault while the gang were carrying out the raid. The incident took place over the Easter weekend, when the gang forced their way into 72 safe deposit boxes by sneaking into the block, abseiling down a lift shaft to the underground vault and drilling through a 7ft-thick concrete wall. It is estimated that anything from £60million to £200million of jewellery and cash was removed from the company’s vaults in London’s diamond district. Meanwhile, police are investigating links between the Hatton Garden incident and a similarly audacious burglary just two years earlier in Berlin. In a case which has strikingly similar traits to the £60m heist in London, thieves targeted 294 security vaults during a break-in at the Volksbank in Steglitz, Berlin, in January 2013. The gang, who fled the bank with diamonds, gold and silver worth more than £8.3m, have never been found. It now appears that the Berlin heist bore all the hallmarks of the Easter weekend raid in London, including the use of a heavy-duty drill to bore through concrete walls, and the belief that the well-planned burglary was carried out with the help of an insider. German detectives are now keen to find out whether any DNA was recovered from the scene of the Easter weekend raid and whether it matches forensic samples found in a tunnel used in the robbery.
target: 'Crystal clear' footage was found by worker based 50ft away from scene .
  Police reportedly only knew about video when worker flagged it up to them .
  Met refused to release CCTV, despite claims it's better than existing video .
  Last week, Scotland Yard released CCTV a day after images were revealed in the media .