Months of planning, meticulous preparations and test runs like scenes from Ocean’s Eleven went into the Millennium Dome robbery.
It would have been one of the biggest diamond heists in history, had it succeeded.
How the whole operation was planned and carried out, by both criminals and cops, is about to be revealed in new Netflix documentary The Diamond Heist.
Ahead of the documentary debut, we explore the true story of the heist plot and those involved.
The Millennium Dome was raided by robbers in November 2000 (Photo: Getty)The Millennium Dome, now known as the O2, was packed full of VIPs, from the Queen to prime minister Tony Blair, all gathered to see in the 2000s.
This glittering and highly valuable assembly commanded global attention and caught the eye of London’s criminal underworld.
Months were spent studying the structure’s layout and the security arrangements, and acquiring a JCB digger and a speedboat.
There was just one flaw – the Flying Squad were watching their every move.
The Millennium Star was part of the De Beers exhibition (Photo: Netflix)How did the police thwart the Diamond Heist?
By the summer, officers had received information from an informer that a big armed robbery was being planned, and so they launched Operation Magician, involving 200 personnel, including 40 from SCO19 – tghe Met’s Specialist Firearms Command, and 60 armed Flying Squad officers.
Police surveillance soon revealed more gang members were involved. By late September, some had been seen testing out a speedboat in a Kent harbour.
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Read MoreThe police had identified days when the raid might occur, but on the first two days the gang aborted their planned operation, once due to the speedboat malfunctioning, and the second time because the tide was too low.
Four gang members wearing body armour and gas masks arrived on the JCB and ram-raided their way into the Dome. Armed with sledgehammers and nail guns, they broke through the security glass protecting the exhibition.
As they were within grasping distance of the replica jewels, the police swooped in and arrested four of them. A fifth man was detained at the helm of a speedboat, a sixth in a van, and a seventh on the north shore of the Thames, suspected of monitoring police radio frequencies.
Who were the Diamond Heist thieves and where are they now?
Raymond Betson, then 40, of Chatham, Kent, and William Cockram, 49, from Catford, south-east London, were considered the gang leaders and jailed for 18 years each. This was later reduced to 15 year on appeal.
Brighton-based Kevin Meredith, then 34, who was caught on the speedboat waiting to take the gang across the Thames to a getaway van, was cleared of conspiracy to rob, but found guilty of conspiring to steal, and sentenced to five years.
Lee Wenham was sentenced to four years in jail after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal.
Then 33 years old, he was living in Horsmonden, Kent at the time. He is now a grandfather and works as a landscape gardener in Wadhurst, East Sussex.
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