[upbeat, engaging music playing]
[sirens wailing in distance]
[Tony] We arrived at the Dome. We backed the truck in up to the emergency exit
that led down to the basement area.
We posted lookouts,
and then we waved them down.
We needed guys fully equipped,
immediately on scene when the robbers went in to commit the armed robbery,
so we'd catch them with their fingers in the till.
In addition to that, there'd be myself and three other guys
disguised as cleaners.
♪ Let's start the show The world lights up… ♪
[Tony] These people were dangerous,
so members of the public could have been in danger
if we'd ended up in some sort of firefight.
[guns loading, cocking]
[Tony] We managed it to the nth degree
to minimize if not eliminate that danger.
♪ Come on, let's start the show… ♪
[Tony] But there's always something that can go wrong.
There's always something that you might not have thought of.
[upbeat music continues]
♪ Yeah ♪
[music ends]
[animals calling in distance]
[dramatic music playing]
[Lee] I couldn't sleep that night
'cause a big thing's gonna happen the next day.
[thrilling music playing]
Everything was going through my head.
If it's gonna be all right,
if this is gonna happen,
if the boat's gonna be on time,
if everybody's gonna be in place, all that sort of stuff, you know?
But I was feeling very positive, really did think it was gonna work.
[compelling string music playing]
[John] Everything was at the go position…
for us to catch them stealing the diamonds.
The criminals were still totally unawares we were there,
but I was fearful in case there was an element that we hadn't known about,
and that we were gonna be surprised.
The pressure on the Flying Squad was tremendous.
We knew these men had already fired weapons at police officers.
[Neil] What if they pulled guns and started firing indiscriminately
to try to escape?
That if this went wrong,
it would be a disaster for the Flying Squad.
But I knew either way,
we would have a pretty great story.
[ethereal music playing]
[Carol] The Flying Squad organized a briefing at two o'clock in the morning
for everybody involved.
There was kind of a nervous excitement, I think…
because we all wanted this to happen.
We'd been building up to this for months. There was a real sense of anticipation.
[gun cocking]
[thrilling music playing]
You could see all the different organizations all looking around,
looking at each other and going, "Today's the day. It's gonna be good."
[John] This gang were planning on pulling off the largest robbery
in world history,
and if we were gonna catch these people and convict them,
we needed to catch them in the act.
We also had to think about the safety of others.
[compelling string music playing]
[John] Our plan had been to catch them at the vault
because then they were in an enclosed environment.
There was no backdrop where people could get injured
by stray gunfire that was going off.
[Carol] My role was to be in the vicinity of the vault.
I was dressed as Dome staff,
and, at the time, the vault was closed for cleaning
to make sure no members of the public were in there
when the attack happened.
[Jools] I was in my car just inside the perimeter of the Dome,
and I had direct line of communication with SO19
and also John Swinfield, who was in the control room at the Dome.
[John] The Dome had something like 130 cameras in there,
and we had outside broadcast cameras…
[helicopter blades whirring]
…as well as helicopter cover giving what we call "heli-telly."
All that was being fed into the main control room,
where I was sitting, so I could see where they were at any time,
and I had a clear perspective of what was happening.
And De Beers had constant CCTV that watched the vault.
When the robbers entered the vault, I was to give the code word "jaguar."
[growling lowly]
I can tell you, quite honestly, I was very excited by the very fact
that, you know, these bad men were going to be nabbed on the job.
I wanted these robbers caught
because they'd given me a headache for the whole year.
[Jools] But at this stage,
we still weren't aware how they were actually going to do the ultimate robbery.
[seagulls calling]
[gun cocking, firing]
[dramatic operatic music playing]
[elevator dings]
[music fades]
Game on.
[intense music plays]
[Lee] My job was to plan how to steal the diamonds.
[gun cocking, firing]
[Lee] But on the day of the raid,
the plan was for Ray, Bill, Aldo, and Bob to drive the JCB.
[Michael] The safest time for them to rob the Dome
would probably be in the morning, when they opened the vault up,
and before the crowds were let into the Dome.
During the daytime, it's daylight, and you're gonna be seen.
A lot more attention.
So, to create a distraction once the JCB was in,
we came up with the idea to throw smoke grenades to make a screen.
They'd have about five minutes to get into the Dome, steal the diamonds,
get down to the water before the police turned up.
Plenty of time.
[JCB motor revs]
[gun cocking, firing]
Terry was gonna be over here, to the other side of the river,
waiting to pick everyone up.
Van in position.
[Lee] Kevin Meredith was in the boat waiting on the Thames, here.
Boat's in position.
[Lee] And I'm lying low to keep my head down,
and just, uh, waiting for that call.
Come and pick your money up. [chuckles]
[clock ticking]
[John] The Dome opens at 9:00 a.m.
[bell chimes]
[John] And members of the public were coming in.
[indistinct chattering]
[indistinct radio chatter]
The next thing we hear is that the JCB is on the move
from its forward position, which is about a mile away.
[gun cocking, firing]
[John] So, the attack is imminent.
[suspenseful music playing]
[John, on radio] All units stand by. Silver Command, Operation Magician.
We are now active, active, active.
We'd heard over our communications
that the digger was making its way towards the perimeter of the Dome.
[suspenseful music continues]
The surveillance team were positioned around the main entrance
because we-- we naturally thought that is likely to be the best way in.
[John] The JCB takes up a position
behind a fence.
We still didn't know what they were planning with the JCB.
Me and my colleague, we were like, "What's it doing?"
"Are they gonna drop people off?"
Uh, how-- you know, what's the purpose of it?
[Lee] We're all ready to go.
[Bill, on radio] Five minutes, be ready.
- Roger that. - So, let's do it.
[boat motor roaring]
[John, on radio] All units, we are now at state red.
[gear clanking]
[Carol] There was CCTV, but, inside, I wasn't sure about where it was.
I knew it was somewhere in the vicinity.
We both started to walk towards the outer skin of the Dome.
We both stood there for probably 30 seconds or so
and had a look out, couldn't see anything.
[music darkens]
[John] All of a sudden,
it just goes over this huge bollard like it was a twig.
[metal crashing, crunching]
[John] It was only then when it smashes through a heavy steel gate
that I finally realized exactly what they were going to do next.
But by then…
it was too late.
[JCB motor roaring]
- [people screaming] - We just ran.
- [metal crashing] - [glass shattering]
It was so unexpected.
[JCB motor roaring]
They're in the Dome. They've crashed through the Dome.
Smashing through the Dome wasn't something we planned for.
So, had the attack gone in at that point,
it would have been armed officers attacking a tank.
[JCB motor rumbling]
[Lee] Bill and Bob go into the vault.
Aldo jumps out and starts throwing smoke grenades
to distract the cameras.
Bill, with the Hilti gun, smashes through the glass.
Bob, with a sledgehammer, starts smashing to get the diamonds out.
[Hilti gun fires]
[glass shards clattering]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Lee] Once they've grabbed the diamonds,
they run down to the boat waiting on the Thames.
- [Bill] Go, go, go! - [Aldo] Yes!
[Bill] Come on!
[all yelling indistinctly]
[epic music playing]
[all laughing and cheering]
[Lee] The boat goes across the Thames…
where Terry's waiting for them in the van.
The van takes off.
[tires squealing]
[Lee] Fuck yeah, they've done it!
[seagulls squawking]
[upbeat song playing]
♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
♪ I ain't a liar ♪
♪ I'm just out here trying ♪
♪ So if you hear me holler ♪
- ♪ It's all about a dollar ♪ - ♪ Yeah ♪
♪ Surviving is duckin' and a-divin' ♪
♪ I ain't being funny ♪
♪ It's all about the money ♪
- ♪ Yeah ♪ - ♪ And I ain't even lying ♪
[song ends abruptly]
That's how it was supposed to happen.
[producer] Cut!
[Lee] But things don't always work out as you planned.
[machine rewinding, clicks to stop]
[intense music playing]
All units stand by. We are now at state red.
[Tony] It's on. It's happening.
Now we're like, "We've gotta go."
"We gotta get to our final assault position."
By letting them get into the vault and do it, they were fish in a barrel.
When the robbers entered the vault, that was when I gave the alarm, "jaguar."
- [jaguar growls] - [John, on radio] All units, strike.
[growls]
[Tony] This is it.
[growls]
[officers yelling] Down on the ground! Down on the ground!
[officer 1] Move, on the ground, now!
[tool clatters]
[officer 2] Stay down! Stay down! Don't move!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the river…
[sirens wailing]
…Flying Squad officers had descended on Millman
and arrested him in the van.
[on radio] Chris, it's Tony. Your boat is a speedboat,
a white speedboat.
[officer, on radio] We've got a speedboat with a red stripe.
We've got two boats going on it now.
[John] By that time, the SO19 RIBs have closed in on the boat.
[officer, on radio] We're returning. We've got it.
Heard over the radio that the scene had been secured,
and it was confirmed that all the suspects had been arrested.
[dramatic opera music playing]
[sirens wailing]
[John] An operation that took months to plan…
was over in about three minutes.
We got the result…
with everybody accounted for.
Apart from Lee Wenham.
[birds chirping]
[gunshots firing]
[Lee] I was waiting to get a call from Ray to say he's done it, we're millionaires.
He hadn't called, so I was starting to get worried.
I was just feeling very anxious,
uh, listening to the radio in the car,
see if I can hear anything on there about the raid going on.
- Got to the farm, police everywhere. - [sirens wailing]
[officers] On the ground!
[Lee] And then policemen put a gun through the window
and dragged me out of the car and arrested me.
[melancholy music playing]
[Lee] It all happened so quick.
Your head's spinning.
Then it sinks in. Fuck it, I've lost all that money, you know?
[flames roaring]
[Lee] I was gonna be a millionaire.
[fire blows out]
[Lee] And then it's gone.
And that's the gamble you take.
You play with fire, you get burned.
And I got burned. [chuckles ruefully]
[cell door clangs shut]
[Lee] Went into Belmarsh on remand.
Because my dad was providing the farm as a safe house, they arrested him too.
Whatever possessions you have, they take away from you,
put you through a scanner, um, strip searched,
uh, given a number, and then basically you're just shown to your wing.
I felt pretty shit.
As a youngster, I wanted to be like my dad and his mates.
Just wanted the respect of people and do something with my life.
So it was fucking gutting, terrible feeling.
But, as we walked onto the wing…
[inmates cheering]
…the whole fucking wing were standing up and clapping.
[triumphant music playing]
So, to get that respect from them people, it felt great, yeah.
But then reality hits. You realize where you are.
[music fades]
Fuck, I'm in prison.
[somber music playing]
[Lee] There's all manner of things going through your mind, but first thing is,
you're not gonna be there for your kids.
You're not gonna see them for a long time.
Because I knew I've got at least 10 or 15 years coming now,
inside.
It made me feel…
made me feel terrible that my kids had to go through that.
My first few weeks, I handled it pretty well 'cause I had my dad there.
Then I got a letter from my daughter
that came with a couple of photographs of my daughters.
As soon as I saw their faces, it just brought it all back to me.
What I'm missing, and them kids missing from me.
You know, I'm not there to look after them.
[Beth] I noticed he wasn't around
for a few days.
Dan and my mum sat me down. She was like, "Daddy's gone away for a while,
but he's gonna be fine,"
um… and you can't wrap your head around why all of a sudden he's gone.
[reporter 1] If this raid had been successful,
it would have been the biggest diamond heist in the world.
I remember seeing it on TV for the first time
and your heart dropping.
Four men tried to steal £200 million worth of diamonds from the Millennium Dome.
[Damian] Despite all the best planning, the gang was simply outsmarted by police,
who were always one step ahead,
ensuring this audacious attempt was doomed from the beginning.
[Lee] Never wanted my kids to know what I was up to.
And I've tried to hide it as much as I could, yeah.
Made me feel a bit ashamed, you know, for them to be put through that.
When I first got charged for the Dome robbery,
I didn't think they was going to come down hard,
'cause I was only at the bottom of the chain.
You know, all I'd done was the planning.
There was no guns used, and I wasn't actually on the robbery.
But then Kent police charged me with the Aylesford robbery.
[unsettling music playing]
[gun cocks]
It was a bit worrying, to be honest, because there was guns used.
[engine revving]
[sirens blaring]
They said there was some DNA in the back of the getaway van,
and the severity of the robbery…
[siren blaring]
I was looking at 25 to 30 years for that robbery.
Looking at that kind of time, it's obviously scary for anybody.
It's a long, long time inside, isn't it?
[dramatic music playing]
[Lee] So, the Dome trial was set for November.
[dramatic sting playing]
[Lee] But because me and my dad were charged with both the Dome and Aylesford…
[gavel bangs]
…we couldn't be tried with the others.
[intriguing string music playing]
[man] A trial is a living thing. You never know what's going to happen.
And this is probably one of the most exceptional cases there's ever been.
Certainly one that I've been involved in.
[sirens blaring]
[reporter 2] Arriving at court, some defendants
accused of trying to pull off the biggest robbery in the world,
possibly the millennium.
[Martin] There was spectacular press interest.
Five men have been jailed in England over what could have been
the world's biggest diamond theft.
I thought, this is an amazing case.
Basically, when I heard about it, I thought it was a publicity stunt
by some film company, maybe Guy Ritchie or somebody.
And it was an audacious attempt,
with a quite simple, straightforward plan.
The criminals had planned out every last detail.
But the police were always one step ahead.
[Martin] They were caught red-handed.
So it would be easy to think this would be a piece of cake to prosecute.
But you never, ever think any trial is cut-and-dry.
And, in this case, it certainly wasn't.
[reporter 3] The gang have denied conspiring to rob the finest
and rarest collection of diamonds.
They pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to rob.
And I thought, "Wow, that's going to be interesting, isn't it?"
"What on earth are they going to say by way of defense?"
What they said was,
"We weren't robbers at all, we're thieves."
You may wonder, "What difference does it make?"
And the answer is, theft is very simply
taking something without using violence…
[door chime dinging]
…and robbery is using violence,
or the threat of violence, in order to steal.
The potential sentence for this kind of robbery
is between 15 and 25 years.
- [door clangs shut] - [lock clicks]
Whilst the maximum sentence for theft is seven years,
they were never going to get the maximum.
So, let's start on the proposition that they would get six years.
They pleaded guilty.
They would expect, therefore, to get a third off that sentence,
which reduces six to four.
They'd expect only to serve half, which reduces it to two.
They'd already spent a year in custody awaiting trial.
So, in effect, if they were sentenced for conspiracy to steal,
they were only going to have to serve one year in custody.
Now, one begins to see the wisdom behind their very clever plan
to admit to the jury that they were thieves
and not robbers.
[John] We felt that the fact that we'd caught them red-handed
satisfied all the ingredients to justify the offense of robbery being charged
and convicted.
But, if the benefit of the doubt is there,
then it will always be awarded to the defendants.
[dramatic music playing]
[Martin] And so, in the end, they might serve one year,
get out, and then could commit other serious armed robberies.
So, I had to demonstrate that they were not the likable thieves
that they claimed to be, but they were ruthless robbers.
[water gurgling]
[Martin] But we had a problem
because they didn't actually have any weapons during the Dome heist.
So, the jury might think this was a really audacious offense
and nobody was hurt,
so let's be sympathetic towards them.
Something that we thought could be seen as a weapon was the JCB…
- [JCB motor rumbling] - [metal crashing]
…because if there were members of the public around,
they would have just been pushed out of the way or run over.
Their explanation for that was that it wasn't a weapon,
because they didn't expect anybody to be there.
And that's because
they had an inside man.
[intriguing music playing]
[Martin] He was going to ensure that there was nobody about,
so nobody could be hurt,
demonstrating the argument that they were only thieves was true.
And the inside man was a police officer who was corrupt.
[John] That was something that took the wind of our sails
because now we've got a possible area of police collusion in it.
On hearing that, we decided to actually speak to him.
[Michael] I turned up for work
to meet my team.
I was told, "Go to the Chief Superintendent's office."
"There's some people want to see you."
I walked in there.
The Detective Chief Superintendent in charge of the Flying Squad was there,
along with a senior officer from Complaints.
And, uh…
his opening words were,
"Do you know why we've asked to see you? Do you know why you're here?"
And I said, "I think I can guess why I'm here."
[somber music playing]
[Martin] What was surprising was that, of course, it was, first of all,
a police officer.
Secondly, that it was Betson's brother-in-law.
I mean, you wouldn't believe it, but it's true.
And so, he could blow a hole in my case completely.
[Michael] I was called to give evidence at the Old Bailey in central London.
I was concerned and worried and anxious.
But there was a sense of relief there as well,
that finally it's all coming out into the open.
[dramatic opera music playing]
You could see the jury watching him as he went into the witness box.
Is this man a corrupt police officer who set this whole thing up, effectively?
[Michael] I was thinking, "This is it."
I thought it would change my life forever, getting in that box and doing this.
[contemplative music playing]
[Michael] I could see Ray and the rest of the defendants.
The prosecution counsel asked me questions.
I told them about the relationship I had with Ray,
and then I told them about the meeting in my house
where he proposed
I become the inside man in his team,
and that he'd give me £250,000.
He left that house asking me to, uh… think it over.
I didn't have to think for a long time.
I knew what I was going to do.
I decided to tell my bosses what Ray asked me to do.
[intense music playing]
So, I relayed everything I could,
everything I knew about him.
Because, you know, that's what you have to do.
Ray made a bad decision, thinking that he could corrupt me.
He just assumed that everybody was like him.
At the next family gathering, he asked me,
uh, if I'd thought any more about it,
and I said,
"I have, and I'm definitely not gonna go along with it,
but I do appreciate you trusting me
because I could have gone to my bosses,"
and he said, "You wouldn't have done that, because you value your family too much."
I took that as a threat to kill me,
if I'd gone to the police, which I already had.
[compelling string music playing]
We were convinced and reassured
that he'd done the best he could in a difficult domestic situation,
and we found at no time had Wearing done anything that was improper.
[Michael] Ray was surprised that I was giving evidence for the prosecution.
He saw me as soft.
Ray had threatened me in such a way
that I think he thought he could manipulate me and use me for his ends.
[Martin] PC Wearing answered every question,
uh, with a considered answer.
He said that he was not in any way corrupt,
bearing in mind the suggestion made by the defense,
central to their case, is that they had to have an inside man,
and he demonstrated very clearly
that he was not.
And so, for the defendants,
it all fell apart.
[bright opera music playing]
[Martin] All but Meredith were found guilty of robbery, rather than theft,
and sentenced.
[dramatic sting playing]
[reporter 4] Five men who tried to pull off the biggest robbery in history
were jailed today for a total of 74 years.
[reporter 1] For the Dome robbers, it wasn't supposed to end like this.
The judge told them they'd played for high stakes,
and they knew what the penalty would be if they failed.
[man] These were a ruthless team of criminals.
They deserve no one's credit whatsoever.
[Lee] I thought it was pretty harsh.
They wanted to, you know, make an example of them, I suppose.
It was a bit worrying because they came down so hard on them.
What did that mean for me?
Waiting for the trial,
my dad was still in with me, and he wasn't doing too good.
[melancholy music playing]
[Lee] In fact, he lost seven stone in seven months,
and he was really suffering.
So my job was to look after my dad.
They didn't have a very good case on my dad.
So they sent a message down with my QC
and said, "If you plead guilty today,
we'll let your dad go."
No way he'd have got through a long sentence.
I just wanted him to go home.
So, that's what I did.
I pled guilty on both things.
I got nine years for Aylesford
and four years for the Dome, 13 years combined.
[Beth] I remember being really just devastated.
Absolutely distraught, like, well, this is my life now.
Um, and as a child, that makes you feel really alone
because nobody else is going through that.
None of my friends are.
But it was hard because you've gone from having someone there every day,
to he's gone.
I was so angry at him.
I was just like, "Why would you leave us? Why would you do that to us?"
Everyone has a choice. Everyone has a choice in life,
but I didn't know anything else.
That's all I'd done from a kid, and that was all I was taught from a kid.
I didn't know another path. So I took that path.
[alarm ringing]
When I was in prison, it's exactly like Groundhog Day.
[alarm ringing]
You come out. You go to work.
You come back. You make your phone call to home.
It is Groundhog Day.
[inmates clamoring in distance]
[Lee] There's no TVs, and you're banged up all the time.
But you were allowed to have a book.
I can read a little bit. I'm not very good, but I can read.
I got 13 years, but I never got in trouble the whole time I was in prison.
I served, altogether, four and a half years.
[birds chirping]
[Beth] Do you think prison changed you as a person?
[Lee] It did change me.
It makes you think a bit more before you do things, you know?
[heartwarming music playing]
- I was very young when all this happened. - Yeah.
I was only 30, 32. And I, um…
You don't think anything through. All you think about is the money.
- The high life. Do you know what I mean? - Yeah.
Obviously, it'd be a lot different now because I'm a good boy now.
Yeah. [laughing]
- Yeah. - Yeah.
[Lee] Looking back on the Dome robbery now, I…
I'm not gonna sit here and lie. I didn't regret having a go of trying to do it.
[Beth laughing]
[Lee] I regretted leaving my kids, obviously. Who wouldn't?
- All right, don't tell everyone. - [Beth laughing]
[Lee] But, you know, it was a good plan.
Um, there was very good people around doing it.
The only thing I would change is that we got the diamond, yeah.
[ethereal music playing]
[John] Following the aftermath of the Dome,
we were presented with a commendation for work.
[bright classical music playing]
Always good to be appreciated. Pleased to have the recognition.
This was a very audacious attempt at a robbery,
but it was foiled by an even more audacious police response.
This was a much-needed victory for the Flying Squad.
This gave them the great success that they needed and that they craved.
It goes into the Flying Squad annals of history,
and it's part of Flying Squad lore.
It was a classic tale of cat and mouse,
which is why we still talk about it as Britain's greatest robbery.
[Neil] So the good guys won.
But I've got to say,
I thought this was a pretty amazing operation
by the bad guys.
You can't help but be impressed by their planning…
It's audacious in the extreme.
…by their balls…
I couldn't help smiling. You know, what they tried to get away with.
…by their willingness to take risks.
You know, it was just too flamboyant. It was too-- too bold.
I remember paying something like £56,000,
uh, for this impregnable glass.
Literally seconds, they'd made a great big hole.
I mean, God, was it a shock.
This group weren't idiots. They'd done a lot of thinking about it.
If the police hadn't have known,
if the police hadn't have been there,
they'd have got it.
They came that close.
[Lee] I went back to the Dome with my partner.
I found myself checking the gates out and stuff like that. [chuckles]
I thought there'd be a plaque or something.
"This is where they tried to nick the Millennium Diamond."
But there was nothing in there, no.
[music ends]
[Tim] Criminals are criminals, as far as I'm concerned.
I just thought that this bunch, actually, probably deserved to have success.
[dramatic music playing]
[Tim] However,
had the thieves actually managed to steal the diamonds that were on display there…
they would have got an almighty shock.
[Nir] I receive a phone call…
[lilting classical music playing]
…from a gentleman, a director
of De Beers, telling me that there's going to be a heist in place
that's going to come down in the near future.
The decision with the authorities
was to make
the fake.
[Tim] And they were extremely good.
You'd be very hard-pressed to tell that they were replicas.
So, in September, two months before the raid,
I made a decision, just to be safe,
to swap the real diamonds
with fakes.
[music crescendos, fades]
Motherfu--
[upbeat, engaging music playing]
[music fades]