Millennium Dome Diamond Heist: The Plot to Steal the Worlds Most Flawless Diamond

Adam Cox: [00:00:00] I just don't feel like these are really that good criminals.

Kyle Risi: They're not, are they?

Adam Cox: I do, you know what? I wonder if the police were like watching them, if any of them were buying tinned pies and go like, oh, it's gonna happen. They bought a tin pie,

Kyle Risi: maybe, and then they bust into the house and they're just eating the pie. Yeah. It's like, oh.

Adam Cox: You're eating it. Why? It's gross. Nevermind. Yeah.

Kyle Risi: See the only reason people buy Faye Benton pies is for bombs. Everyone knows that. Why are you eating it? It's gross.

Welcome to the Compendium, an Assembly of fascinating things, a weekly variety podcast that gives you just enough information to stand your ground at any social [00:01:00] gathering.

Adam Cox: We explore stories from the darker corners of true crime, the hidden gems of history, and the jaw dropping deeds of extraordinary people.

Kyle Risi: I'm Kyle Reese, your ring master for this week's episode.

Adam Cox: And I'm Adam Cox, your bearded lady barber for this week.

Kyle Risi: Yeah, they need to be groomed, man. Yeah. Otherwise, 'cause like it's always in the details, isn't it? If you're a little bit scraggly around the edges, this is like an amateur production.

Adam Cox: Yeah. So I'll do the eyebrows as well. Mm-hmm. And the back. I'll shave the back. Yeah. And everything. Yeah. She'll look good to go

Kyle Risi: sack back and wax, crack waxing. What? I got that wrong. Yeah. All of those things. All of those things. Okay. Adam, before we dive in, a quick heads up to our lovely freaks out there.

Remember that signing up to our Patreon as a free member will get you early access to next week's episode and entire seven days before anyone else. And of course, it's completely free.

Adam Cox: But if you want even more, then listen up, Carl, because you could become a certified freak for a small monthly subscription, which will unlock all of our unreleased episodes up to six [00:02:00] weeks earlier.

They're brand new, they've never been heard before and they're straight off the press.

Kyle Risi: Exactly. And also we are expanding our Patreon benefits even further now, you can also access all of our Vintage Compendium episodes from season one. These are the episodes from back in the day when we were first starting out, ones that really made you guys fall in love with the show. They are all now available on Patreon.

And there are some incredible stories in that collection. Like the Great Train robbery.

Oh, one of yours. Yeah, one of mine. Time plug. One of your episodes are, yeah.

Adam Cox: And the Chippendales Murders

Kyle Risi: two episodes. You're plugging Show Papini.

Adam Cox: Yeah. There's that. And there's also the NHS story.

Kyle Risi: And there's the Turban family. The one that I did. But there's also, yeah, there's a lot. Not a competition. Ibasically, there's just so much content for you guys to get stuck into and we'll be adding even more exclusive episodes. for Patreon members as the weeks go on. So signing up for as little as $3 a month is literally the best way to support the show.

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Kyle Risi: near your crotch, near your crotch, as I like to say, we'll always be there waiting. And this is of course, a brand new benefit to our Certified Freaks team members. As a special thank you for supporting us for all these months, if you are an existing member, just send us a DM with your address and we'll ship one out to you no matter where you are in the world, and it won't cost you a single dime.

Adam Cox: While you're at it, don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast app and leave us a review. Your support helps us reach even more people who like you. Love a good Tale of the unexpected.

Kyle Risi: I actually have one here. From Simply Samantha. Oh, right. okay. She says, Kyle and Adam The Compendium is my absolute favorite podcast. Every episode is amazingly told, and you always make me laugh. You two really compliment each other.

Adam Cox: Oh, at least someone thinks so.

Kyle Risi: Hey, we wouldn't be together if we didn't. When I listened to the Compendium, I always feel like I'm just lounging around with friends, listening to fantastic stories. I first started listening to you every night, Now I [00:04:00] also listen with my morning cup of coffee. I'm almost out of episodes. Love you both.

Thanks Samantha.

Adam Cox: Thank you. And I've got one here from Love Bri. And to be honest, she sums up our show perfectly. Really? She says it's entertaining and informative and that our show lives up to our promise that she's entertained and she can now hold her own at any social gathering. See, it does what we say on the tin.

Kyle Risi: It does exactly. you're welcome. Who is that

Adam Cox: from? Uh, love to Breathe.

It's not smell like cheese. Oh,

Kyle Risi: is it

Adam Cox: not? No. Just love to Bri.

Kyle Risi: Alright. Freaks enough of the housekeeping.

Let's buckle up and get today's show started because Adam, today we're diving into an Assembly of London Gangsters misplaced confidence. And a diamond plot too mad to make up.

Adam Cox: Okay. Criminal underworld gangsters. Mm-hmm. Is this going back a few years? It feels like it should be in Victorian or maybe the forties or something.

Kyle Risi: No, actually, right. We're going back, I can't believe I'm gonna say this. It was, it was 24 years [00:05:00] ago where we set our scene in the year 2000. Oh, it was 25 years ago.

Adam Cox: Yeah. The, the millennium.

Kyle Risi: And I feel like this is going to be a bit of a high season coming up because almost back to back now, I've written two episodes all involving heists, purely coincidence. And this has made me realize that there is nothing that I love more than a high story carried out by idiots.

Adam Cox: Oh no. What have they done?

Kyle Risi: Adam, in November, 2000, a criminal gang attempted the most audacious robbery in British history. And I say attempted because spoiler alert, they were not successful.

They were idiots. So much so that the police had known about the plan for nine months. But for context, if this heist had been successful, this would've been one of the biggest heists in British history. The equivalent of 12 Great train robberies.

Adam Cox: No way. I mean, they stole, I can't remember the exact amount. It's a while ago that we did that episode. Mm-hmm. But they stole a lot and it, they never got caught.

Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, these guys got busted.

Adam Cox: Yeah. So they, they did a better job.

Kyle Risi: And [00:06:00] in spite of the high being foil at the last minute, this was still considered one of the most bodacious robberies ever attempted. Not only because of what they attempted to steal, but also because this gang were inclined to make very good use of some very imaginative stuff. I'm talking speedboats and a JCB digger. Huge badass bond film stuff.

Adam Cox: Yeah,

Kyle Risi: but also audacious because of just how brazen they were. These guys literally didn't care who was watching them.

Adam Cox: So what were they planning to do?

Kyle Risi: Well, we're gonna have to wait and see because in spite of the cops, knowing what the gang had been planning for nine months, this was still not enough for them to guarantee a conviction because as the lead investigator pointed out, he had in the past seen armed robs that had been busted, wearing literal masks, carrying loaded guns, and still managed to convince the jury that they were there for another purpose.

I can't believe it took nine months to take them down then. The thing is that they needed to essentially catch the gang red-handed so that there would be no denying what their intentions were. But what were they trying to steal? I hear you ask Kyle. [00:07:00] Yes.

Adam Cox: That's just what I was about to ask.

Kyle Risi: Well, It's a fascinating question, Adam. Let me tell you. Our would be thieves. Were planning on stealing the world's most perfect, most expensive diamond in the world. The DeBeers Millennium Star. Diamond. Do you know this diamond?

Adam Cox: I think I've heard about it It's quite a, chunky diamond, right?

Kyle Risi: it. When it was first discovered in the early 1990s in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, it came in at around about 777 carrots as a kind of a rough uncut diamond, making it one of the largest kind of gem quality rough diamonds ever found.

But then soon after its discovery, the De Beers Diamond Corporation purchased the diamond where it was then cut into several finished gems, and the star of that set was the millennium star.

And this is what they called a D color grade diamond, which basically means it's the highest grade for a colorless diamond that you can possibly get. Both internally and externally. This diamond was flawless. It weighed in at exactly 203 carats, and as a result, it was certified [00:08:00] as the world's most perfect diamond in existence.

Earning a valuation of, do you wanna have a guess? 20 million? Try 350 million pounds.

Adam Cox: Wow. So this is, year 2000 money.

Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: Wow. That is, I could do a lot with 350 million.

Kyle Risi: You could do. And this is what they were trying to steal.

Adam Cox: Well, good. That's the thing. If you're gonna steal, make sure it's something you know good.

Kyle Risi: So today, Adam. I'm gonna be telling you about the most audacious robbery heist in British history. It's a story that features speedboats, JCB diggers, flawless diamonds, and brazen criminal masterminds with cockney accents and a lot of really weird names.

Adam Cox: Oh God. You're gonna do an accent, aren't you?

Kyle Risi: I have not prepared any accents We can try, but I, I've got none scripted. So you guys are safe this week. Do you know anything about the story by any chance?

Adam Cox: I know nothing about this story. But I do love a good high story.

Kyle Risi: Exactly. Special ones carried out by idiots. So Adam, I haven't actually told you where this heist was actually going to take place. Tell me, Adam, what do you remember [00:09:00] about London's most iconic landmarks in the year 2000?

Adam Cox: Um, it's the gurkin. I can't remember when that came about, but that feels like early two thousands. Mm. But maybe even after, so we're talking about at the turn of the millennium.

Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: Well, the Millennium Dome, right,

Kyle Risi: exactly. The Millennium Dome in the Docklands of London. Is it the Docklands or is it Greenwich? I think it's Greenwich, right?

Adam Cox: Yeah. It's, it's kind of ugly to be fair, isn't it? Do you know why they chose that shape?

Kyle Risi: I do actually,

Adam Cox: because didn't, I'm trying to like, dig into my archives and my memory, but I think it was because it was like the sun rising because it's like a, a white dome and then it's got those spikes that was kind of signifying the sun's like flares

Kyle Risi: almost. We are gonna get onto that when I'm explaining to you what the Millennium Dome is for our American listeners that have no idea what we're talking about, but if you're not from the UK or if you were born after the year 2000, you probably recognize the Millennium Dome today. As the O2 arena in London, which of course is now a concert venue, [00:10:00] but back when the dome was being planned and built, it was actually a very politically significant thing.

It was intended to be this symbol of ideological ambitions surrounding kind of the UK shift into the 21st century under new labor, which if you know anything about British politics, was like a significant period for labor after the country had been kind of suffering through years and years of conservative government.

But now essentially labor was back in power and they were going to make an impact,

Adam Cox: we're probably gonna go into it, but I never went to the Millennium Dome. But I mean that what not whilst it was what it intended to be initially, because it wasn't it like a, a museum.

Kyle Risi: Yeah. It was a massive exhibition. Hang on. You have not been to the Millennium Dome. What was all the government tax subsidies going to? Because literally the government was subsidizing schools to send their kids to the Millennium Dome. 'cause it had a target. Well, I didn't go. I am sure this is gonna be a treat for you.

Do you even know what it was even like on, on the inside?

Adam Cox: You know what I remember most from tv, was like you could walk through the human body. Yes. And you could [00:11:00] see sperm swimming above your head.

Kyle Risi: Yes. Essentially that was the star attraction.

Adam Cox: Yeah.

Kyle Risi: Basically we have a new labor government, and their goal was to essentially spend, spend, spend in order to invigorate the economy, lift people outta poverty, but also to inspire innovation and modernization across the country.

Even though the Millennium Dome was first proposed under the conservative government, the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair positioned the dome as a representation of his kind of cool Britannia agenda. 'cause you remember when he came along, he was like one of the youngest prime ministers we ever had.

He was also wanting to appeal to the younger demographic. So it was all about cool and like the, the music that he played, his campaigns, like things can only get better. That was his like campaign slogan, wasn't it? Oh God. I quite like Tony Blair. Actually.

Adam Cox: I am not a fan, but let's not go into that.

Kyle Risi: I mean, then we had the whole kind of like weapons of mass destruction stuff and like his connections with kind of George W. Bush. So yeah, I mean, my opinion of him has changed, but at the time he was extremely [00:12:00] popular.

And this space, the Millennium Dome that was already under construction, as the name suggests, was just this enormous, shallow, rising dome with a diameter of 365 meters, which of course symbolized the days of the year. The structure also had 12 kind of yellow steel masts each, like a hundred meters stored jutting out of its roof, and these were meant to represent the hours of the day or the kind of the clock face essentially, but also the months of the year.

Its roof is made of pt, FE coated, kind of fiberglass fabric, completely white. So it created this sort of futuristic white canopy that was both lightweight and also durable, but also inside the dome. 80,000 square meters of exhibition and entertainment space, which at the time, believe it or not, made this the largest structure of this kind in the world.

Really? I had no idea. No, it doesn't look that big. It's because it doesn't really rise up very high. It's very low and shallow, isn't it?

Adam Cox: Yeah. And I just, I dunno, I [00:13:00] don't, I think it's pretty ugly looking.

It's not the grayest looking building,

but I feel like the people that developed this was all about meaning and stuff like that.

Yes, exactly. But then didn't really think about it aesthetically.

Kyle Risi: But of course the opening of the Millennium Dome coincided with the UK's new year Millennium celebrations. And for its first year in operation, it was going to host a huge expo that the government were dubbing the millennium experience that would run from the 1st of January 2000 right through to December 31st of that same year.

And basically this expo was going to host 14 individual exhibition zones. Organized into three main categories. Basically it was who we are, what we do, and where we live. And was a celebration of like British culture and achievement.

And each category then explored different aspects of British life through interactive exhibitions covering like the faith zone. You've got the mind zone, you've got the body zone, and some of them were just huge. Like you could literally ride up escalators and enter into these installations and then go inside and explore like [00:14:00] you just said, the human body and see sperms kind of like swimming all around you and stuff.

Adam Cox: Yeah.

Kyle Risi: Pretty incredible. And then At the center of the dome was this huge rotunda where the shows would be held. So if you go to the O2 arena today, that center bit is essentially where the concerts happen. And at the time of the Millennium experience, it was like a trapeze kind of circus Olay kind of style show that was happening.

When the dome first opened, it was expected to attract 12 million visitors a year. This is largely the reason why so many kids got to go to the Millennium Dome because the government were heavily subsidizing kind of tickets across various schools to encourage kind of people to take day trips out to the millennium home to hit their target at 12 million. Hmm.

Do you, do you think they hit that target in the end?

Adam Cox: I don't think they did.

Kyle Risi: What do you think they got in the end?

Adam Cox: I reckon they probably got to four or five,

Kyle Risi: 6.5 million.

Adam Cox: That's, that's gonna be my next option.

Kyle Risi: Slightly over, slightly over half.

Adam Cox: That's the thing that this exhibition was only open a year. Mm-hmm. And I remember, whether we'll get onto that, it was kinda like, so the exhibition's [00:15:00] closed, now what are we gonna do with it now? What? Yeah, exactly. And there was talk of it gonna be a theme park, and then eventually it's been turned into the O2 where mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kyle Risi: Which I think is a great venue.

Really. Yeah.

I definitely went to the millennium experience and it was cool if my memory is kind of more like a fever dream that happen, like did that really happen? Did I really see those things?

The thing I remember the most was of course the scale and the size of the space. The bustler people moving through these huge installations. That is the one memory that I have the most. Mm-hmm. About what it felt like to be in there because it was just so massive.

I did hear years later that the Millennium Dome actually had one of the largest kind of single printed images on the planet and I think it was just like a giant image of like St. James Park, the highest resolution image that had ever been created at that point in history.

And apparently when they installed it, they stepped back to admire their work and they noticed very clearly a naked old man sunbathing in the park. So really to take the whole thing down, send it off to get reprinted, and then send it back at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars,

Adam Cox: could they not [00:16:00] just, I don't know, put like a sticker over it? Exactly, exactly. This is the time before, yeah, you could easily airbrush.

Kyle Risi: But one of the zones at the Millennium experience was what they called the money zone, which had the walls and floor of the entrance covered in 1 million pounds in cash. And at the center of the money zone was its star attraction, and that was the Millennium Star Diamond. Wow.

Adam Cox: That sounds really elaborate to have the entrance to this

Kyle Risi: covered in a million dollars. Yeah. Or million pounds. You couldn't quite reach out. I think it was like underneath perspec or glass or something like that. Kind of bulletproof. So you can just like smash down and grab some,

Adam Cox: yeah, but it almost feels like a waste of money. But then I guess it's kind of impressive

Kyle Risi: they're gonna take the money out later. It's not embedded in there in resin and that's it.

Adam Cox: It's not earning any interest there as it goes.

Kyle Risi: No, it's not.

And so the Millennium Star, as we've already discussed, was the most perfect diamond in existence where people could come along, they could admire it, and it was kind of displayed behind Bombproof display cabinets And [00:17:00] this is where our height is actually gonna take place, Adam, on the 7th of 2000, and I'm not talking in the middle of the night when there's nobody around.

This heist literally took place at one of the busiest attractions in the UK when buses of kids were arriving at the dome at 9:30 AM in the morning.

Adam Cox: Okay, so they're gonna do it whilst it's crowded and full of people. Is that to try and blend in and then blame it on a kid?

Kyle Risi: Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I'm gonna explain why they pick that particular time. 'cause there's a very good reason. Okay. It had nothing to do with kids or blending in. It actually had something to do with water.

Adam Cox: Okay.

Kyle Risi: But our story doesn't actually start with a Millennium dome. To tell you about how this heist went down, we actually need to travel back to February of 2000. When the Flying squad offices base at New Scotland Yard received reports of a dramatic incident unfolding three miles away. In earlier reports coming in, were saying that a terrorist has set off several explosions. The lead investigator at the time called john Shafford, great name

Adam Cox: as in [00:18:00] SHAT. Mm-hmm. Ford.

Kyle Risi: Yeah. Yeah. I wonder if he had a Ford as his first car. 'cause then it could be like, oh yeah, my first car was a Ford and it was shit. Shit. Ford.

Adam Cox: Yeah, but that's a very unfortunate name.

Mr. Sha Ford.

Did you shit. And your Ford.

Kyle Risi: So we're so juvenile. Anyway, his team raced down to nine ounces on the South Bank. When they get there. It's just a scene of utter devastation. Shepherd says, looking at the scene was like something from like a bombed out street in Iraq and at the point they had no idea what had happened. But whatever had happened was completely unprecedented

It soon became clear that this was not a terrorist attack, but actually a failed robbery heist where the robbers had attempted to steal cash from an armored van. The gang had essentially welded a huge metal spike on the back of a flatbed lorry, then covered in Christmas trees to conceal the spike in February. So not suspicious at all.

Adam Cox: Sometimes you see Christmas lights up in February.

Kyle Risi: You do, but you don't see a truckload of Christmas trees unless they're dead Christmas trees, I guess.

Adam Cox: Yeah, they, if they're alive, then I would be [00:19:00] suspicious.

Kyle Risi: Ah, so they're blending in and they're smart. They were going to use the spike as a homemade battering ram, which they intended to ram into the back of the security van, busted open, and then get away with 10 million pounds in cash.

In a nutshell, the gang had been tailing an armored van, and as it was pulling into nine Elms lane in South London, using several vehicles, they blocked off both ends of the street to prevent the armored van or anyone else from entering the street or leaving.

Then using the lorry, they reverse into the van, tearing a massive hole into its back doors. the lorry then pulls forward, stops roughly like 50 yards away, giving the gang room to kind of swarm the van and try and get at the money.

Wow.

By this point, traffic in the lane had come to an absolute standstill. Cars were literally unable to move. Completely unaware that a robbery was happening just a few yards away Of course, as you can imagine, there are horns going, there are people screaming, they're shouting just classic London morning traffic.

Within minutes, the gang managed to extract the cash from the van, and we're in the [00:20:00] process of making the getaway when their entire plan immediately goes to shit. When they realize that an angry motorist pissed off that the lorry was preventing anyone from moving, decided to hop out and remove the keys from the ignition.

That's not gonna help. The thing is though, if traffic gridlock is your problem, it doesn't help anyone to take the fucking keys from the person that's blocking you in. So this is literally classic display of British passive aggressiveness that ended up four wheeling this heist. So it's pretty amazing

Adam Cox: when you think about it. That is brilliant that someone's just got so pissed off to go. That's it.

Kyle Risi: So basically the gang end up abandoning the plan altogether. They begin setting off a set of small explosions in the vehicles that they were using as decoys, but also to destroy any evidence. And then they take off on foot towards the Thames River and escape without the cash on a mother fucking speedboat. Okay. Very cool.

Adam Cox: Alright. So they'd gone through all that, but unsuccessful. Mm-hmm. Um, but clearly had a getaway plan and they were like, we just need to get out of here. Yeah. So they set off their decoy bombs to basically destroy [00:21:00] evidence. Mm-hmm. Uh, how many people are there at this point there?

Kyle Risi: At this point there was like nine of them.

Adam Cox: Nine of them. Okay. They must have been really pissed. Exactly. Because they probably spent all that money. Exactly. All that time preparation.

Kyle Risi: Of course like I said, this was completely unprecedented and because of the explosions, Scotland Yard had almost zero evidence to work out who was behind all this.

That wasn't until five months later, in July of 2000 in Kent, when a blue transit van skidded to a halt directly in front of another armored vehicle, transporting a bunch of cash as it skidded to a halt, it completely blocked the armored van from being able to move on both sides. And at the same time, an articulated lorry was driven across the middle of the road again, to stop traffic from moving.

One of the gang members then got out, approached the cash van and told them that explosive charges were being fitted to the van, and they would detonate if any of them tried to escape. Then one by one in quick succession, green landmine looking boxes with flashing red lights were attached all over the van. On the doors, on the roof, on the bonnet. It's completely [00:22:00] petrifying. Can you imagine being one of the armored security guards going, I did not sign up for this.

Adam Cox: Yeah, well, I guess the people that are attaching them, they're masked or, I dunno, got something covering them.

And then you've got these things being attached or like clamped onto the vehicle that are flashing. You're like, let me out of here.

Kyle Risi: Yeah, lemme go, lemme go. But at the same time, two other gang members, they duck under the van. They cut the hydraulic cables of the actual van, which meant that even if they wanted to drive off the van is now completely dead.

They then proceeded to reverse another lorry with a spike welded to the flatbed No Christmas trees. This time it's July. That would be suspicious. And then they pierce basically a huge hole inside the van, but it's not big enough. So they kind of like have to keep going at it to make the hole bigger.

Adam Cox: Right.

Kyle Risi: Meanwhile, dozens of calls from Lucas started coming through to the keis. Remember this is in the middle of rush hour. So there are literally witnesses everywhere. I imagine though the robbers are like, don't worry, we'll work at the bank. It's fine. It's fine. Carry on. Don't call the police.

Why'd they keep doing this in rush hour? I know what is wrong with them? I guess they had no choice. They had to work around this van that they were [00:23:00] tailing. Sure.

Adam Cox: What was, if like someone from the public starts to come in, I'm gonna take those keys and are they gonna be like, no, no, no, you stay back.

Kyle Risi: They probably learn their lesson by now.

But it didn't matter that these calls were coming in because in that moment a police car just so happened to be passing by while all of this was taking place. And of course the police turn on their lights, their sirens, and the gang then fire at the police a dozen or so shots, trying to buy themselves a little bit more time while they're, try and get the cash.

But in the end, they're forced to give up and make an escape on foot towards the Thames to awaiting speedboat.

Adam Cox: Another awaiting speedboat.

Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm. But no cash.

Adam Cox: So two attempts now and they have not got the money.

Kyle Risi: Exactly. So far they've not stolen anything. They've just attached a bunch of bombs, not gotten any cash. You might even argue. Has a crime even been committed at this point?

Adam Cox: Well, they perhaps caused a. An inconvenience. A uff. Yeah. And they have actually, they have shot at police.

Kyle Risi: Oh, that's true.

Adam Cox: So I think they have Is that, is that a crime? I believe it is. Um, but the [00:24:00] thing is though, this is the second attempt. Police now must be looking into these people whilst they're not gotten away with anything.

Kyle Risi: Well, they've not set off any explosions. Yeah. And the reason why they didn't have anything on the first heist is because they blew up all the vehicles that they were using, destroying a lot of the evidence.

Right. This time all the vehicles are still there

Adam Cox: and they've left some evidence. So this is gonna help the police find out who they are, right? Mm-hmm.

Kyle Risi: So basically the bomb squad are immediately brought in to disarm the bombs, dotted around the van, only to discover that the bombs were in fact.

Spray bentos, tinned steak and kidney pies. Basically they had painted them green, stuck a bunch of lights on them and, and basically for our American listeners, yes, tinned pies are actually a thing here in Britain. You, you can literally buy them in a tin at, have you ever had one?

Adam Cox: No, I would never eat one.

Kyle Risi: I They look pretty damn good.

Adam Cox: They, no. Do you think they'll come out with soggy? I, I just don't understand how that's gonna crisp up and, yeah, it's just not gonna be good.

Kyle Risi: How do you cook them? Do you cook them in the tin? Do you [00:25:00] take the lid off and then cook 'em or do you cook them in the whole tin with It's still the can on it.

Adam Cox: Well, no, you wouldn't do that. I think, I assume there's like a ring pool. You pull that off and then you turn it upside down, stick it into the oven. And

Kyle Risi: actually you might not need to, 'cause it's like the, the, the can will probably be like a baking tray for you that might crisp up the bottom right.

Adam Cox: Maybe.

Kyle Risi: I think we should try one. I see them all the time in Tesco.

Adam Cox: I have gone 37 years without having one of them. I'm not ready to do that yet.

Kyle Risi: Adam is part of British culture, like we need to try one. But basically, yeah, they were not bombs, they were not landmines, they were pies

Adam Cox: with flashing lights.

Kyle Risi: So now for the cops, there's no doubt that this was, of course, the same gang that had been involved in the first attempt of the armored heist. A few months back, they both used bombs of albeit these ones were PIs. They both used speedboats. And of course they both used a similar ramming spike wielded to the back of a lorry.

Mm-hmm. But the biggest clue that this was the same gang was the fact that the ramming spike had been etched with the words gitty. So that's basically the name of the [00:26:00] spike. They've given it a name gi, right? Very British name. But then just below it were the words persistent, aren't we?

Adam Cox: So they obviously want to leave a calling card. Mm-hmm. I feel like you should do that if you're successful. Yeah. You're just idiots. It's a little bit premature

Kyle Risi: and I mean, this is just awesome. It's just so classically cocky London gangster. It's basically straight out of a guy Richie movie.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Like Snatch or lock stock.

Kyle Risi: 100%. So hours after the attempted heist, the media start reporting on the story, this is when a low level officer who'd been paging through the newspapers, recognizes the flatbed lorry that had the kind of the spike that the gang were using.

He'd basically been previously investigating reports of stolen vehicles that were been stored at an isolated small farm called Tong Farm. And this was without a doubt, one of those same vehicles that he had spotted. Mm-hmm. So he reports his findings and because the farm was already under surveillance, all the cops needed to do was just increase the existing surveillance around the farm. So they didn't need any warrants or anything like that. They were like, we've already got the [00:27:00] surveillance, let's just make it 24 hours.

So this farm had actually been recently purchased by the Winham family, and the person they were actually surveilling was their 33-year-old son, Lee Winham, along with several other people that they suspected of drug smuggling, money laundering, and of course stealing cars, which the cops had seen being taken to this farm.

Adam Cox: I see. Do you know what, it's interesting that farms are always a good place to hide out.

Kyle Risi: It's because they're so isolated, right?

Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

Kyle Risi: And you very rarely have any neighbors.

Adam Cox: It's the same with the great train robbery. They hid out a farm. They did, didn't they? Mm-hmm.

Kyle Risi: But of course at this moment, the police do not act. They know that if this gang had already invested this much effort into planning two heists only for the boat to fail, then the gang were probably gonna strike again at some point.

Adam Cox: Yeah. You think like they're not gonna give up?

Kyle Risi: No. So the plan was to keep surveilling them to kind of see what they were planning next, but also as John Shatford, the lead investigator puts it, they couldn't just arrest 'em now. Because there was a big chance that the gang would just claim that they'd bought those vehicles at auction.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Okay.

Kyle Risi: So if they were going to arrest them, they needed to make sure that there was no way that they could [00:28:00] dispute any of the charges that were filed against 'em. Basically, it was better for the cops to catch them ready handed with whatever they were gonna be planning next.

So the cops all watching 'em 24 hours a day. At some point, they managed to get close enough to nab a pair of gloves from the dashboard of Lee Wems van, which he basically just leaves unlocked.

They run it for DNA, which takes 10 weeks. So a nice little reflection of how slow things can be here in the uk. Also, the cops just can't be bothered , basically.

Eventually the results come back and they managed to get Lee win's, DNA from saliva that they find on one of the gloves. So the question is, how is he putting on his gloves

Adam Cox: well's? I reckon that's when you take off a glove, right?

You, you pull on it. Ah, you buy eye to pull it, do you think? Yeah.

Kyle Risi: Would that give you enough saliva for a DNA result?

Adam Cox: Well, if you're ignoring down, maybe it's a real tight glove.

Kyle Risi: I reckon it's so tight that he is like, Ooh, this needs a bit of lube, and he's just spitting in them and then just putting them on. I, I don't think that's what's happening. This is the tactic that OJ Simpson needed. I just, the gloves' not going on. I

Adam Cox: i, I think what I said is probably more likely, but fine. We'll go with what you just said.

Kyle Risi: So [00:29:00] basically, while the cops are watching, they notice a couple very interesting things.

First, they see a stolen JCB digger arriving at the property. Why? Well, they have no idea. Maybe they were planning, kind of doing some excavation work, maybe looking to bury some bodies. They, they just don't know a new patio. Possibly they also notice a speedboat being towed into the farm. So a smoking gun perhaps.

Adam Cox: Okay.

Kyle Risi: Are they planning another heist involving speedboats perhaps?

Adam Cox: Well, I'm gonna guess that they do.

Kyle Risi: I did say in the intro, they also noticed loads of people coming and going from the farm, which they do manage to photograph. And bear in mind, this farm is massive. It's really isolated, so there's no nearby neighbors, which makes it really tricky to get close. Like if officers are just parked out on the country road outside, it would've totally looked outta place so they would've instantly been spotted.

So what they do is set up on the surrounding hills with these super, super telescopic lenses to spire on them from like up to a mile away. It's really incredible. I want one of them lenses. I know. And these photographs, Adam, they are so clear that they're able to identify various well-known London gangsters coming [00:30:00] and going from the property who the cops are now hopeful are involved so they can get them off the streets.

Wow. Okay.

The first guy they spot is a guy called Terry Millman, a notorious South London gangster who previously served 14 years for armed robbery. They also spot a guy called Ray Betson who had convictions for fraud and theft. They also spot a guy called William Cochran, but let's be real, we're gonna call him Willie Cochran, only because he served time for Ram raiding.

How did he do that? This is just such a beautiful piece of nominative determinism. So basically he's just doing what he was born to do. Yeah. Well done,

Adam Cox: well done. Him

Kyle Risi: So the cops, they see all these London criminals and they know they must be planning something together, but they have no idea what,

so they start putting out feelers in their criminal network to see if anyone might be willing to give them something to go on. They get nothing. Nobody is talking. So next, the cops start relying on guesswork and gathering some intelligence around what their potential targets might be.

This is [00:31:00] when they discover from bank records that rather than planning an armed robbery, Lee Winham was planning a family day out.

Okay? They can't quite work out where he's going. Only that the purchase was made through an attraction provider like London Days Out. All they know is that the ticket costs even 58 pounds.

So they look around at the different London attractions that offer family tickets for that exact amount, and only one result comes back

Adam Cox: the The Millennium Dome.

Kyle Risi: It's the Millennium Dome. Interesting. So to the cops, this looks really odd.

Why was he going to the dome until someone jokingly suggests that maybe he was going to try and steal the millennium diamond.

Adam Cox: Ah, okay so he is going there to, I guess scout out.

Kyle Risi: I reckon so, yes.

Adam Cox: And is he actually taking any children or it just him that's going,

Kyle Risi: he, he does the kid basically, yes.

Adam Cox: Does he know the child?

Kyle Risi: I don't think he does. He takes, in the, in my research, it's not clear whether or not it's his. So I dunno if he's paid them or they're like family friends or whatnot. But basically it's his way of blending in. So the cops, they reckon it's worth investigating. They contact [00:32:00] the Millennium Dome with a cover story that they were looking for drug dealers, which allows 'em access to the dome CCTV control room. On the day of the visit, the cops are watching closely. They also have cops in plain clothes pretending to be dome employees. Lee arrives with a woman and a child. Again, we dunno who they are, and the first thing he does is he checks one of the security gates at the dome. He kind of sort of shakes it a little bit.

He tries to get through it. Tries to pick the lock. Maybe

Adam Cox: that's weird if I, I don't think I've ever seen anyone shake the security gates. No.

Kyle Risi: He's probably thinking, oh, is this, is this an exhibition? Oh no. Oh no. Oh no, it's not. I thought this was the security zone.

Adam Cox: Yeah, that's weird, but okay. Fair enough. That looks suspicious. It's suspicious behavior,

Kyle Risi: right? Yeah. The cops then watch as he visits the money zone, and in particular the diamond vault where the millennium star is being displayed and he's there for agents. He's looking around throughout the day he revisits that vault a total of three times, just going back and forth, looking at the kind of the money on the floor going.

Oh, million pounds. That is, is it? Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. Drawing a map kind of thing. I was gonna

Adam Cox: say, he must be like either memorizing stuff, whereas he is taking down notes.

Kyle Risi: He's not taking down notes. I was joking, but [00:33:00] I imagine if he could, he'd be like drawing maps and all sorts

Adam Cox: Sure. That he could like take a few photos and stuff like that, then make it look, oh,

Kyle Risi: I guess so.

But this is 2000 with phones like readily available with cameras. I guess you could take like what? A disposable camera or something?

Adam Cox: Or a digital camera?

Kyle Risi: Yeah, I guess so.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Probably not as good quality. But still some photos are better than No photos.

Kyle Risi: Exactly. And so in that moment, the cops are confident that the gang is going to try and steal this diamond. And because the millennium dome is right on the water, they also figure they're going to make the escape. By speedboat.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Do you know what if I was in their gang? I was just thinking, do you know what we've done two failed attempts.

Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm.

Adam Cox: We probably shouldn't use the boat again. Probably should think of something else.

Kyle Risi: The boat's being successful every time, giving them away. It has. But come on, come on. I think the problem is targeting in traffic in London traffic. I think that's the problem. Right?

Anyway, now all the cops need to do is plan a response around this potential threat to the Millennium diamond.

Adam Cox: Okay.

Kyle Risi: So Adam, I think this is a great time for us to take a quick break and [00:34:00] when we get back I'm gonna tell you how this all goes down.

Adam Cox: Alright. Can't wait.

Kyle Risi: So, Adam, we're back. What are you thinking?

Adam Cox: I'm thinking that these guys they're just not, they're just not up to it. Like, okay. I applaud them for trying to do it, you know, third time's a charm. Mm-hmm. They must be thinking, do you know what we've learned from our mistakes? Mm-hmm. This is gonna be it, but I don't think that they can just drive a lorry into the millennium dome.

Kyle Risi: No. With a big spike on it. Yeah, no, exactly. So how are they gonna do it? That's the question the police need to know, right? Yeah.

Adam Cox: So what's the timeframe from, the guy looking at the diamonds in the Millennium Dome to the actual event taking place?

Kyle Risi: I reckon this is roughly around about August at this point. So they've got three months.

Adam Cox: Three months. Okay.

Kyle Risi: But the police don't know this, they have no idea when they're going to strike. Sure. So of course before the break we discuss how the cops managed to piece together how Lee Winham and the gang were planning on stealing the Millennium diamond worth a core 350 million pounds.

And they knew they were probably gonna try and escape via speedboat. Again, I'm gonna say it 'cause I love saying it. Very [00:35:00] cool.

But they don't know how or when all of this is gonna happen. and The cops can't exactly. Just stay on high alert every single day at the dome for one. This literally costs hundreds of thousands of pounds per day. Plus any police presence spotted at the dome might spook the gang and they might just call the whole thing off.

So the lead investigator, John Javid, pulls together an investigation team, which he calls Operation Magician. Very cool. Okay. It's only, there's only gonna be a few more very calls all, and this quickly becomes the biggest undertake in Scotland. Yards flying squad history. There is a lot riding on it because if they fail to get a conviction, then it'll be a lot of wasted taxpayer money and possibly mean the end of John. She's career.

they can't just rely on circumstantial evidence to secure a conviction. They're going to have to catch the gang red-handed. Basically, the cops are going to allow this heist to happen.

Adam Cox: I guess that's the only way they can catch them.

Kyle Risi: Exactly. But they need to figure out how. They would physically be able to steal the diamond by working out where the vault's [00:36:00] weak points are.

So they visit the owners of the diamond at the DeBeers headquarters in the city of London to discuss how the vault is secured and establish any weaknesses. Of course, DeBeers are like, hang on, you think that someone is planning on seeding our diamond and you want us to tell you how they might do it and you're gonna let them?

And the cops are like, yes.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Do you mind? Is that, is that okay? We're not gonna let them actually take it, or we'll try not to let them do it. To be fair, their track record isn't good.

Kyle Risi: Yes. Oh, okay. That's fine then. So to be as tell them that stealing the diamond is literally impossible because it's stored in an impregnable vault, reinforced by solid concrete walls and doors.

Impregnable. That's a good word. Impregnable. I'm impregnable. Why am I not pregnant yet?

So the cops reply, okay, fine. The concrete vault will protect the diamond when it's not open to the public at night. But what about when it's on display during the day, and they tell them that the diamonds are actually displayed in these cabinets that are fully alarmed, completely unbreakable. They have cameras all over the vault, which live streamed directly [00:37:00] to BE'S headquarters, where the security team are essentially watching it 24 hours a day.

Plus the display cabinets are designed to withstand a hammer attack for a minimum of 30 minutes. And so in that time, the cops can be called, they can casually make their way over to the dome. They can stop for donuts along the way before then arresting anyone's sledge hammering essentially the, the glass cabinets.

Adam Cox: So this, yeah, sounds pretty secure. Mm-hmm. Like They're not gonna be able to get into this easily in the middle of the day whilst there's a crowd round.

Kyle Risi: So the cops are like, okay, a raid on the vault is probably unlikely. Then how else might they be able to steal the diamond and de beers are like possibly during transit.

Adam Cox: Ah, okay. Because that's what they've tried before. Mm-hmm. While something is on the move. So are they expecting or do the robbers know when the diamond is gonna be on the move?

Kyle Risi: DeBeers tells them that the diamond is actually scheduled to be transported to Tokyo in a few weeks. Ah. And if what they were saying was true, then this would probably be the time that they would strike.

Adam Cox: Okay. And so the robbers are gonna know this. They've either got someone on the inside

Kyle Risi: Ooh, interesting. '

Adam Cox: cause yeah. How do they know [00:38:00] that?

Kyle Risi: So John Schaffer and the flying Squad, they scrambled to put together an ambush.

Basically they set up surveillance along the river because they know that speedboats are the likely getaway. Mm-hmm. be safe, they also set up surveillance along the transit route to the DeBeers kind of headquarters. They also plant 300 officers to be dotted along key points, even positioning officers on cranes, which are disguised as like construction cranes essentially.

Adam Cox: Ah, okay. So they're like, they don't have police written on it.

Kyle Risi: No.

Adam Cox: But yeah. They're not disguised as a crane themselves or linked up.

They're actually working on the crane

Kyle Risi: y Yes, exactly. They're dressed as construction people. They also secretly locked down areas to keep the public away, again, disguising it as kind of maintenance work that's happening. Basically, John says that we were essentially prepared for war, and they do this all in just three weeks.

On the morning of the transit security staff, they remove the diamond from the vault at 6:00 AM and armored convoy sets off to the DeBeers headquarters. And basically the police pinpoint that the most likely spot where the gang will strike is as the security convoy is making its way through Blackwell Tunnel, which connects the dome to the [00:39:00] city of London on the north side of the river.

as the security convoy enters the tunnel, the cops all have literally their assholes, clenched imminent strike. They wait squeaky

Adam Cox: bum.

Kyle Risi: They have squeaky bums. They wait and they wait, and eventually the convoy exits the tunnel and they continue to follow it all the way back to de Be's headquarters. The gates open, the convoy enters in and they shut. Nothing happens.

Okay. They haven't struck, so the cops are like, what the fuck, man? John Shafi is essentially thinking that he's fucked because his entire operation would cost literally hundreds of thousands of pounds just for nothing to happen.

Adam Cox: Is he now thinking they perhaps he was just on a family day out looking at the diamond.

Yeah. Shit, I've done all of this. It could be.

Kyle Risi: Like none of it makes any sense to them. They realize that if the gang didn't strike while the diamond was in transit, then it could only mean one thing, that they were gonna try and steal the diamond while it was still in the dome. Oh God. But they also knew that this was completely impossible, but they don't know that.

The gang doesn't know this. They assume that they have someone on the inside, but [00:40:00] now that the diamond has moved and they haven't struck, that would be the perfect bit of information for an insider to give them. Yeah. So if they aren't going to strike inside the dome, they don't know that it's impossible.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Okay. So this is why they're stupid.

Kyle Risi: But there's also a possibility that the gang also caught wind, that the cops are onto them and it just completely abandoned the plan altogether.

So a few weeks go by the Millennium Diamond is now back at the dome and out of the blue, John Shatford gets a call from his colleague who tells him, you're not gonna believe this, Betson and Cock Ram are here at the dome looking at the diamond.

Ah. And so in that moment, the cops realize that the heist is still on, and the gang are actually going to try and steal the diamond while it's still in the vault. But the question of course, is how and when.

Adam Cox: But I guess they don't know it's impregnable. So maybe they have got a, a really good plan that no one's ever thought of.

Kyle Risi: Well, I mean, the beers aren't really that confident. They're like, oh, alright, boomers, let's see how that goes. They just don't give a [00:41:00] shit. They're like, okay, let them try.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Good luck.

Kyle Risi: So in order to catch the robbers in the act that the flying squad needs to set up what is clearly a very risky armed ambush in a very public place, remember at this stage it has changed from really wanting to catch them, to really needing to catch them if they were gonna justify the money that they spent on this operation.

Right. This also means that they can't just shut down the do for the day and risk spooking the gang. So they need a plan to ambush them that would allow for civilians to be everywhere, but also that they would all be safe.

Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

Kyle Risi: But also, it wasn't going to be as simple as just having a bunch of cops waiting in the vault because the gang would then just argue that they were there for a different purpose.

What. This hammer? Oh no, it's, it's a walking stick. You have a real bad back.

Adam Cox: I don't see how you can walk into this vault and, I don't know, with a mask or other equipment and just be like, you're on your lunch break maybe and you're doing some construction. You thought you'd just take a wander over and have a look at the time. I mean, that is,

Kyle Risi: That's plausible. I, yeah. I was just working on the building site down the road. I'm on the payroll and I've just come to have a look at [00:42:00] the diamond. That's it. I brought my hammer with me. '

Adam Cox: cause you're worried your hammer might get stolen if you leave it out.

Kyle Risi: Yeah. Exactly. It's plausible. If you have the right lawyer, you can kind of argue anything.

Adam Cox: Okay, fine. All right. Let's see where this goes.

Kyle Risi: So the flying squad discover that there was a hundred meter long tunnel in the basement of the dome. That kind of opened up to some fire doors near the money zone. So they figured that this is where they can kind of wait and get ready to pounce.

They also decide that they wanna also ambush them while they're also in the vault, but they can't just be in the vault willy-nilly because that will spook them. So they decide to build, and this is testament by the way, to how much time they actually had to plan this whole thing. They literally had time to build an entire wall inside the vault, which is so funny to me because I imagine it doesn't go all the way to the bottom.

So like a fake wall? Yes. You could see the cop's feet just out and they're kind of giggling me.

Adam Cox: I don't understand how that would've looked, but Okay. So there's almost like a secret room that they've created where they're gonna hide out.

Kyle Risi: Exactly inside a space for like 20 offices to kind hide behind.

Adam Cox: This [00:43:00] is, this feels very elaborate.

Kyle Risi: It's very elaborate. Meanwhile with all the increased security still on the gang, the cops get solid confirmation that they were definitely going to make an escape on speedboat. Basically, they watch them practicing their getaway, but the gang start to realize that the speedboat really struggles to maneuver itself in more shallow water.

So they recruit another member to help them acquire a new boat. This guy is called Terry Millman, who the cops follow to a boat dealer and they see him paying 3,700 pounds cash for a new one to be delivered to Tong Farm.

When the cops get a copy of the receipt, they notice that he signs for it under the name Terry Diamond.

Adam Cox: Why?

Kyle Risi: It's like

Adam Cox: just for fun. Like, Oh, they'll never know.

Kyle Risi: They'll never know. What an idiot. Yeah, what an absolute cocky fuck wit.

Adam Cox: I guess they just thought no, this is it. This is our big break. No one's gonna be able to like, le let's

Kyle Risi: commemorate it by like literally putting our plan on the receipt.

Dumb ass. So The cops are confident of their escape plan, but they don't know where they're gonna [00:44:00] arrive or how They did see the gang testing at JCB Digger, but they can't quite work out how it's gonna be used during the heist. 'cause like it's not particularly fast, right? So you can't exactly ride it either through London without drawing attention to yourself during rush hour.

Adam Cox: I feel like they're gonna use that to break into the actual diamond vault, but I don't see how they're gonna get it in there unless they're gonna somehow cut a hole in the Millennium Dome and drive it through

Kyle Risi: possibly. So the cops have to now work out when they would strike. The only thing that they knew for certain was that it would be within the next three months because the millennium experience at the dome was due to end at the end of the year.

So they had to kind of strike before the diamond and kind of went back to Debi, but then the cops discover that every time the gang visited the dome, it always coincided when the Thames tide was at its highest.

Adam Cox: Mm-hmm.

Kyle Risi: They work out that when the tide is at its highest, there's only a few spots in the area where a boat could logistically park up within a reasonably accessible kind of getaway distance. And even then at best, they only had like a 30 minute window before the tide subsides. Mm-hmm.

They could [00:45:00] basically calculate that the next high tide was due at 9:30 AM on Monday the 6th of November, which was perfect for both the gang and the cops because the diamond would already be on display to the public, but also there wouldn't be that many people around in the morning. Meaning they could keep the risk low to the public.

Adam Cox: So, So far all we know is that. The 6th of November looks like the most likely date because that's when the tide is high and it's gonna be in the morning. There's a potential 30 minute window that they've got where they can drive their boat up close to the Millennium Dome.

Mm-hmm. But how are they gonna get it out? We don't know. We just know that all they have is a new boat.

Kyle Risi: Yeah, exactly. So at 2:00 AM on the 6th of November, John Shatford deploys his units. He smuggles hundreds of armed offices in furniture, lorries and catering vans. Some officers are pretending to be employees at the dome, literally hiding their weapons in rubbish bags and mop buckets.

One cop has hers in a fanny pack pretending to be a guide. Look, kid comes up to her, she's excuse me, where's the toilet? And she's get away, kid. Get away. Blow my cover

At [00:46:00] 6:50 AM they receive a report that the JCB digger has been spotted leaving the hideout near a coal yard, not too far away.

And so they're like. This is it. They are actually coming to the Millennium Dome in a digger.

Adam Cox: And they what? Drive at like 20 miles an hour. 20 miles an hour. Exactly.

Kyle Risi: And so as the police wait, a report comes in that there is an accident just outside the dome, which has caused a massive traffic jam. And because the cops are called to the scene, the robbers get spooked. And so the JCB digger turns around, pisses off, and they withdraw the boat.

Adam Cox: Oh, so they're not gonna do it?

Kyle Risi: They've

Adam Cox: called it

Kyle Risi: off. They've called it off. So another setback. So basically they start looking at the tide maps again, and they notice that actually tomorrow's tide is only slightly lower than what it is today. So they think that this could potentially be another chance, right, for them to strike.

So now the pressure is on for John Shafi, if the heist does not happen the next day. There won't be another second chance. They were literally under a lot of scrutiny for kind of the spiraling [00:47:00] costs of the operation. But also now they get wind that the operation's gonna be leaked to the media.

Adam Cox: How do they think that

Kyle Risi: someone's found out? And they're about to tell the world. So if it doesn't happen tomorrow and the news gets back to Lee, we and the gang, then the entire operation will essentially be for nothing.

Adam Cox: God, all that time. 'cause you said there was like 300 policemen at one point. Mm-hmm. All on this when they could have been like, I dunno, solving other crimes and stuff like that. Yeah. They're trying to solve a potential crime.

Kyle Risi: Getting cats outta trees. Yeah. Yeah. Helping old ladies cross the road. Hello? Hello? Hello?

Adam Cox: You said you weren't doing accents.

Kyle Risi: So the next morning, again at 2:00 AM offices are deployed once more.

They're all hiding out in their cubby holes behind kind of this makeshift wall in the corridor underneath the dome. Again, a lot of them are disguised as, dome employees reports come in that the JCB digger is on the move. Again, the police also spot a speedboat that's falling into position on the far side of the Thames.

Eventually 9:29 AM rolls around and the first tourists start arriving [00:48:00] inside of the dome. Finally, this time, the JCB traveling at 20 miles an hour starts making an approach towards the dome. Very slowly, kind of, sort of leaves the road and then drives over some gravel pits adjacent to the dome. So it's making its approach.

Adam Cox: Okay.

Kyle Risi: In that second, at the same time, a coach load of children have now entered into the dome and they're making a beeline for the money zone. So it's a cop's worst nightmare scenario. Basically the cops have to kinda shoo them away

Adam Cox: from the money zones, from the money

Kyle Risi: zone. They're like, get outta here.

Adam Cox: Yeah. So they don't obviously want any kids hurt because that's gonna be terrible.

Kyle Risi: Thankfully it does kind of work and they manage to get the kids out the way. So crisis is averted, but then at 9:33 AM watching on CCTV, the JCB plow slowly into kind of a reinforced concrete barrier to kind of just shift it out the way really slowly.

And then once through, it speeds up the concourse and crashes right through the dome security gate before then speeding at 35 miles an hour, [00:49:00] speeding and crashes right through the side of the dome.

Adam Cox: I wondered if they were gonna do this, but they managed to get their way in by Yeah. Just like, did they break down doors

Kyle Risi: and just No. It's all fabric, isn't it? It's that fiberglass fabric. So they just break right through that. Right

Adam Cox: through that shit. Okay.

Kyle Risi: Meanwhile, the speedboat leaves its moorings on the north side of the Thames and it starts making its way to its position on the South bank to be the getaway The JCB then starts making its way through the dome. Visitors are like, what the fuck is this an exhibition?

Adam Cox: Imagine like kids like going, ah,

Kyle Risi: or I, I wouldn't be like, I'd be like, yeah, J ccb Every kid's

Adam Cox: fantasy. Yeah. Or do they think it's like some kind of weird parade?

Kyle Risi: I dunno. How many people do you think is in the, in the JCB?

Adam Cox: Well, there's only room for like one or two people max. Exactly.

Kyle Risi: This far from stuffed in here.

Adam Cox: That would look a bit odd. Like, uh, the car parks, you've gone too far. Turn around.

Kyle Risi: So eventually the JCB parks right outside the vault, near the money zone, the said gang, they literally look like terrorists. They've got masks on. They're [00:50:00] wearing these breathing apparatuses. And at first it looks odd, but it's for a very practical reason because they start detonating smoke bombs all around the JCB. So there's smoke everywhere.

Amid all the confusion to the gang members, they run into the vault. Tim Thorne, who is the director of De Beers, who has a live stream of the diamond in his office at De Beers, just come in, sat down with his cup of coffees nine 30 in the morning, and he's totally freaking out.

He did not believe for a second that this is actually gonna happen. Wow. Yeah. Freaking out. The gang are equipped with sledgehammers and what looks like nail guns. Okay. And at first, Robert Adams, he's, he's recruiter like literally the last minute, hence why we haven't mentioned him. He starts going at the cabinet with the millennium diamond in it with the sledgehammer and he's smashing at the glass, the glass shatters. But it's still very much intact. It's not gonna break. It is. It is solid.

Adam Cox: So they must have been practicing this for a while, like breaking glass, hence why they've got a nail gun. They must have found it could have worked.

Kyle Risi: Yeah. They might have tested this. Yeah. So once they've kind of like [00:51:00] shattered the glass. Mm-hmm But it's still intact. Robert steps aside and cock ram starts ramming dozens of six inch nails into the shattered glass within like 60 seconds. Right. And they make a considerable hole inside the side of the display cabinet. Ah. So it is almost imp unpredictable. Yeah. Within seconds, Adam and this, the beers guy is like, yeah, they'll be sing away there for 30 minutes.

It'll be fine. We'll get some donuts.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Interesting.

Kyle Risi: Then John Schaff. Gives the signal outside the vault. The guy throwing smoke bombs is swarm by officers. He's pinned to the ground. Ray Betson is still in the J ccb. He, he puts his hands up and he is like, it's all right mate. I work here working,

Adam Cox: I work here.

I, I think one, you've teared a hole in the building.

Kyle Risi: You're

Adam Cox: gonna have

Kyle Risi: to fix that, mate. It's just brilliant. It's worth a try. If you don't know that the cops have been tracking you for months and you dunno exactly who you are, it's worth a fucking try. Right?

Adam Cox: They're like, oh, sorry, sorry. My mistake. We're looking for some robbers.

Kyle Risi: Inside the vault, behind this makeshift wall, 20 officers descend on cock [00:52:00] ram and atoms, and they are just tackled to the ground and they're immediately arrested. Oh. Meanwhile, the police in speedboats, they're hiding near kind of the domes private kind of dock on the river.

Their plan is to let the gangs speedboats sneak up on them. So they're kind of waiting for it to just come around the bend. Mm-hmm. The last thing that the cops want is a gunfight between two boats because the cops know that they cannot safely fire back, especially in London when it's really busy at like nine 30 in the morning.

So the boat comes round the bend and they see like 40 officers and the driver's just like, oh no. And he just gives up no resistance whatsoever.

Adam Cox: Could he not just go like, oh, let's just turn, do a youi and be like, I'm just wrong direction. Sorry.

Kyle Risi: Oh. Oh. Didn't see you guys there, but he doesn't resist at all.

Adam, what is wild is that in the interest of public safety, the police can't risk anyone getting injured, so they have to literally account for every single conceivable scenario. Of course, that means that this operation is super expensive involving tons and ti [00:53:00] hundreds of officers just to account for every scenario.

Oh, okay, they've not done this, they've done this instead. Yeah, okay, we've got that ready and lined up over here with these bunch of guys. Go and do that bit to kinda get 'em, whatever.

Adam Cox: Yeah, I guess the planning for different scenarios that could happen along the river or whatever.

Kyle Risi: Yeah,

Adam Cox: yeah.

Kyle Risi: But yet at the end of all this, all the cops do is just go up and go, allow, allow, allow

Adam Cox: what's

Kyle Risi: going on here. And they just put their hands up and they just

Adam Cox: give up. You'd have thought they would've tried to speed away at least like once, like, and fair enough. Don't find any guns, just get away. I think

Kyle Risi: they're just so bewildered that the, that

Adam Cox: the, it's like how did they know

Kyle Risi: how we thought of everything, but if I was an officer there. This was being pegged as one of the biggest heist busts in like British history, planning, all sorts of contingencies, like barrel rolls and shooting kind of the, your police rifle behind a helicopter lobby and everything. Exactly. Only to be disappointed in the end where you just go, it's a place, and they hands up and then they just give up.

Adam Cox: You, you sure. Like, you don't want like a little bit of a chase. Don't wanna [00:54:00] make the news.

Kyle Risi: So I'm, I'm not gonna lie to you guys, I'm really disappointed. I was really hoping for a high speed chase here and the baddies are like, um, I mean, we could, we could do this again. Yeah. Is that all right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do that. I'm gonna go round the corner again and then you just pretend like you see us and you're really shocked and then you try and run. Is that okay? And they're like, yeah, yeah, sure. Swear

Adam Cox: profanities and, and everything. Yeah. Yeah,

Kyle Risi: yeah. Spit at me as well a bit. That'll be fine. Slap me around the face. And then they do that and the, and then the bats just run off. Yeah. Dammit. I'm in so much trouble.

So Terry Millman, or as we know him, Terry Diamond, he was the guy who bought the speedboat. He's waiting on the north side of the river. He's disguised as a workman waiting for the getaway boat to arrive, which obviously it never does.

Mm-hmm. So he's finally apprehended and completely arrested Lee Wenham. Remember he's not there. So where is he? He's back at Tong Farm. So soon after they make the arrests at the dome, the cops knock on his door and they arrest him. '

Adam Cox: cause he'd be not be like, I Wasn't there? It's not my fault.

Kyle Risi: Exactly. When it comes to sentencing, he gets like the smallest sentence. [00:55:00] Yeah. Because he wasn't there,

Adam Cox: but he's like the mastermind behind all this plea deniability or whatever.

Kyle Risi: Mm-hmm. I don't know what was happening.

Adam Cox: I, I can't control these guys.

Kyle Risi: Apparently the entire bus is just very quiet. There were no casualties and by noon the dome was fully open, except for obviously the money zone. The cops did it and now they could just finally relax after nine months.

Adam Cox: Wow. I mean, it feels like so much money went into this for such let down over like,

Kyle Risi: but they got them all off the streets now, haven't they?

Adam Cox: Yeah, that's true. So it has worked and they've foiled their attempts at doing it again. Yeah, but the thing is, had this been their first attempt. Mm-hmm. And the police were not aware or watching them, it sounds like they might have got away with it if they could.

They have broke into that glass because it sounds like they were making some good attempts at it.

They could have gotten away with it. Yeah. If the police didn't know,

because otherwise that's like, how can five or 10 guys go up against 300 policemen? So the fact that they managed to drive a digger straight into the dome and up to the thing and everything else that they were able to do.

Kyle Risi: But Adam, at the same time, the police also allowed that to happen. Think about it. [00:56:00] Would the JCB digger been allowed to break through the security gates?

Adam Cox: Yeah. 'cause I guess there's other security there would've gone about. Well, I'm not just gonna sit back and it's my coffee break. I'm not getting involved until quarter past 11.

Kyle Risi: It's a good question. I don't know whether or not the police deliberately lifted up some of the measures in place to prevent some of these things from happening in order to allow this to happen. So they could be busted. I don't know.

Adam Cox: Possibly. Yeah. But then I do wonder. I feel like they could have got at least into the speedboat or a bit further along. Mm-hmm. They might have got apprehended, but I feel like they could have done a better job.

But then they didn't succeed the first two times, so maybe actually they're idiots.

Kyle Risi: Yeah. Let's just assume that.

so Shafford, he defend his decision to wait until the gang reached the diamond before arresting them. He says, basically our chief concern throughout was public safety, it would be better to let the robbers get into the vault where they were effectively imprisoned with 20 cops inside. Right. With the exception of maybe one or two kids, but, mm-hmm. Hey, ho.

But it does make me laugh how the gang planned all of this so meticulously, yet, never once [00:57:00] did they bank on the cops knowing that they were planning this thing the entire time. So it was just so wonderful. It's just wonderful.

Adam Cox: I guess they just thought, oh, they didn't catch us the first two times. They have no idea what we're doing.

Kyle Risi: The fact that they were able to get such crisp, clear photographs of them doing dealings on that farm when they were up on a hill somewhere. Yeah, a a mile away.

Adam Cox: You just don't know who could be spying on you.

Kyle Risi: You don't know.

Adam Cox: That's why the curtains are closed right now,

Kyle Risi: so almost exactly a year. The gang, they go to trial, sadly. Terry Diamond, he dies of cancer before the trial starts, but all the others are there to see the trial through.

The judge asks the DeBeers guy what he thought of their attempted heist and he says he thought it was exceptionally brilliant, but to be fair, he wouldn't be saying that if someone actually stole his diamond.

Adam Cox: Well, no, probably not. But it would've been a good heist because it worked.

Kyle Risi: And the thing is though, when he says that in the court, you just see the gang giving each other thumbs up and like, yeah, well done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The the DeBeers guy thinks was shit hot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Pat on the back, Cochran, Willie Cochran, Willie Cochran, [00:58:00] he talks about how he was just so shocked and gleeful at the lack of security inside the dome, thinking this can't be true. This is a literal gift. There was nobody in the vault, there was no security workers walking around.

But again, even at this point, he doesn't know that this is all on purpose.

The cops were letting you do it. So it's so funny that he's only figuring this out at this point at court.

Adam Cox: He still thinks he's that smart, like ahead of the game.

Kyle Risi: Yeah. The main crux of the gangs offense is that they didn't have any weapons on them. So at best they should be treated as nothing more than shoplifters doing a smashing grab.

Adam Cox: That's interesting you say that. 'cause that's the same thing that the great train robbery did. They made sure they didn't have guns because that would increase their conviction.

Kyle Risi: Do you think they were listening to our podcast 20 years into the future?

Adam Cox: Or they just read up about the great train robbery. But I guess that maybe that is where they got inspiration from or what a lot of people get inspiration from. Mm-hmm. Is going like awesome do's and don'ts Yeah. Of how to make this a success.

Kyle Risi: Interesting. Possibly. But the thing is though, this doesn't really fly with the jury because the reality was that the level of planning and the fact that they look like paramilitaries on the back of [00:59:00] A JCB doesn't convince the jury at all. So they're like, no, you're go down for this.

Adam Cox: Yeah. But they didn't have guns.

Kyle Risi: They didn't have guns. in the end, Willie Cock Ram ray Betson. They both are sentenced to 18 years for conspiring to Rob, which is later reduced to 15 years. Uh, later Ray is released, he's then convicted again for a botch raid on a Cash Depot. So he's still in prison today as we speak.

Adam Cox: I just don't feel like these are really that good criminals.

Kyle Risi: They're not, are they? Actually, maybe it's a numbers game. Maybe they've done so many successful ones and you only, you only get busted for the bad ones.

Adam Cox: Are you saying like there's a net positive somewhere in here that they're still up after, like gambling.

They've lost all these attempts at robbing, but actually they did successfully. I mean, will you

Kyle Risi: go to jail for 18 years? I think that's not really a net positive, is it? Probably not. No.

Adam Cox: I do, you know what? I wonder if the police were like watching them, if any of them were buying tinned pies and go like, oh, it's gonna happen. They bought a tin pie,

Kyle Risi: maybe, and then they bust into the house and they're just eating the pie. Yeah. It's like, oh.

Adam Cox: You're eating it. Why? It's gross. Nevermind. Yeah.

Kyle Risi: See the only reason people buy [01:00:00] Faye Benton pies is for bombs. Everyone knows that. Why are you eating it? It's gross.

Aldo and Robert Adams. I know we didn't really speak about them. They're both given 15 years. And another man who we barely mentioned, he was the speedboat driver. Kevin Meredith. He's sentenced to five years for conspiracy to steal, which is apparently different to conspiracy to Rob. I don't get it.

Adam Cox: Is they not the same thing?

Kyle Risi: It sounds like the same thing to me. Steel and Rob, I dunno. Lee Weam, he only gets four years after pleading guilty to conspiracy to steal, but he does get an additional nine years because they managed to pin the nine Elms robbery on him thanks to the DNA that they found in his gloves.

Basically, Lee licked his gloves and got nicked.

Adam Cox: Don't lick things. Basically.

Kyle Risi: Dope. Be a liquor.

But what I don't understand is that if they were successful, what were they gonna do with one of the most famous, most recognizable diamonds in the world? I was gonna ask you this. How are they

Adam Cox: gonna

Kyle Risi: sell

Adam Cox: that?

Kyle Risi: I don't think they could have sold it, right? Unless they were gonna sell it to someone for their own private collection. Like Putin or [01:01:00] something like that.

Adam Cox: yeah, it'd either be on the black market or could you maybe like divide it up into smaller diamonds and Oh, chop it up. Yeah. Yeah. I dunno how that

Kyle Risi: works. You just chop it up.

Adam Cox: Yeah, I know. But would it look as nice little bit of a polish?

Kyle Risi: The thing is that you've stolen, it's got the value of 350 million because of what it is.

Right? If you chop it up, then it's lost its name. It's no longer the Millennium Star. So is it worth as much? I don't know.

Adam Cox: Or if you chop up into two and then it could be like a hunt to find the second piece.

Kyle Risi: Looks like two medallions. Yeah. Go hunt. Find the other half.

So I just don't get it. I just don't get what they were hoping to gain from stealing the diamond. But Adam, there is another twist in the story. It's since emerged that before the robbery de beers actually swapped the diamond out for a worthless glass replica.

So after all the months of planning, even if the robbers had been successful, all they would've ended up with would be a worthless glass replica.

Adam Cox: No way. It wasn't even

Kyle Risi: the

Adam Cox: diamond. So did they do that once the police had alerted them that it could get stolen?

Kyle Risi: I think when it came [01:02:00] back from Tokyo

that's when they then swapped it out for a glass replica.

Adam Cox: Yeah. I guess they thought if it's still on. Mm-hmm. Then we don't wanna risk it going. Yep. That's so funny. But that also shows like the public had no idea either. And if anything, people that got robbed were the people that went to see that diamond.

And it was just a piece of glass.

Kyle Risi: Yeah. Take that labor government,

Adam Cox: who are the real criminals of this story?

Kyle Risi: And Adam, that is the story of the Millennium Dome. Diamond Heist.

Adam Cox: Wow. Or piece of glass.

Kyle Risi: Yes.

Adam Cox: Wow. Yeah. That's, that's something. Yes, they were, I dunno if they were idiots. I think they were just a bit arrogant.

Kyle Risi: Cocky,

Adam Cox: yeah, cocky, classic

Kyle Risi: London gangsters.

Adam Cox: Because I feel like they did a lot of things right. They just didn't do that last bit. The actual stealing bit.

Kyle Risi: I mean, yeah. Three times. They've never been able to do that. Right.

Adam Cox: You're the worst robbers ever.

Kyle Risi: If you guys wanna know more about the story, we've dropped a few resources in the show notes also.

On the 16th of April, and I think that's like literally [01:03:00] the day after this episode goes out, the diamond heist is dropping on Netflix. And I had no idea that this was the case until after I pulled the details together for the sh reco, but it's directed by Jesse Vile, but also executive produced by Guy Richie himself. Oh, no way. Yeah. So he was literally born to do this.

Adam Cox: Yeah. Wow. if anyone's gonna do it, it's gonna be, it's Sky Richie, right?

Yeah,

Kyle Risi: exactly. It's got his name written all over it.

Just like Willie Coran was born to Ade,

Adam Cox: I feel bad when we're taking the Mick outta a couple of these people's names. I can do that because I have my name taken the piss outta me.

Kyle Risi: What do it mean? People take the piss outta my name all the time, especially now that we're a couple. They call me greasy.

Greasy Cox.

Adam Cox: Yeah, that's true. But I, growing up in high school, I always had my name. Um, people would take the piss at me. I didn't have an idea until I got to high school. And then every time Cox came up, people just like sneakers. They're like, I think the time I realized, 'cause I'd gone through all of like year nine people like laughing every time we did the register.

Mm-hmm. And so the person before me was a guy called Ben [01:04:00] Blows, and then there was me. So it was Ben Blows. Yes, sir. Adam Cox. Yes, sir.

Kyle Risi: Isn't your dad's name.

Adam Cox: Let's not do that. Let's not do that yet. Aren't we in allowed to say his name on the

Kyle Risi: podcast?

Adam Cox: And so should we run the outro?

Kyle Risi: I haven't finished the record

Adam Cox: yet. Oh, okay. Sorry.

Kyle Risi: Basically, if you wanna watch Diamond Heist, it's a three part docuseries that blends interviews and archival footage with, of course, dramatic reenactments by guy Richie himself. Tells a story, which I'm really looking forward to. And I think that's exactly what we're gonna be watching the day after. This is,

Adam Cox: let's do it.

Kyle Risi: I love a Guy Richie film, so definitely check that out. But now would you like to run the outro? Let's run the outro.

And so that brings us to the end of another fascinating foray into the compendium and assembly of fascinating things. We hope you enjoyed today's ride as much as we did,

Adam Cox: and if today's episode sparks your curiosity, do us a favor and follow us on your favorite podcast app. It truly makes a world of difference and helps more people discover the show

Kyle Risi: and for our dedicated freaks out there. Don't forget, next week's episode is already waiting for you on our Patreon, and it's completely free to access.

Adam Cox: if you want, [01:05:00] even more than join our certified freaks tier to unlock the entire archive, delve into exclusive content and get a sneak peek at what's coming next. We'd love for you to be part of our growing community.

Kyle Risi: We drop new episodes every Tuesday and until then, remember when your brilliant diamond heist hinges on a bloke called Cock Ram, you're probably already lost. See you next time. See ya.