Dome diamond gang jailed
18th FEB , 2002.DAILY MAIL online.
Four men found guilty of plotting to carry out the robbery of the millennium by snatching £200 million worth of diamonds from the Dome were today jailed for between 15 and 18 years.
Robert Adams, 57, of no fixed address, and Aldo Ciarrocchi, 32, of Balaclava Road, Bermondsey, south east London, got 15 years each.
A fifth man, Kevin Meredith, 34, of Aucklands Drive, Brighton, who was cleared of conspiracy to rob but convicted of conspiracy to steal, was jailed for five years.
In what would have been the biggest diamond heist in history, the gang tried to snatch the stones by smashing their way into the Dome on an earthmover and escape across the River Thames by a speedboat.
They ram-raided their way into the Thames-side tourist attraction on a JCB earthmover but were caught red-handed by armed police inches away from seizing jewels from the De Beers diamond exhibition.
Jailing the men at the Old Bailey, Judge Michael Coombe told them: "You played for very high stakes and you must have known perfectly well what the penalty would be if your enterprise did not succeed."
The Millennium Star and the eleven Millennium Blue Diamonds - ranked among the finest diamonds in the world - had attracted thousands of visitors to the exhibition.
But unknown to the robbers the real jewels had been swopped with fakes after a police tip off. The raid was foiled by the Flying Squad, backed up by armed police.
"It was a remarkable police operation. But for their intervention they would have got away with £200 million worth of diamonds," said Martin Heslop, QC prosecuting.
The raid was planned professionally and carefully down to the last detail.
"The conspiracy was so well-organised it almost succeeded," said Mr. Heslop.
The four men found guilty of the robbery charge had admitted the lesser charge of conspiring to steal.
Meredith denied both conspiracy to rob and conspiracy to steal.
The jury of seven women and five men reached majority verdicts against the defendants after deliberating for nearly seven court days.
The guilty verdicts came after Judge Coombe gave the jurors a majority direction after receiving a note from them late this morning.
The gang had caused terror as they sped towards the vault in the JCB on November 7, 2000.
A boat, skippered by Meredith, was waiting to take them across the Thames to a getaway van parked by a creek on the other side.
But they ran straight into a police ambush. Officers were waiting for them after undertaking one of their biggest-ever undercover reconnaissance operations.
The Flying Squad believed that a major robbery was due to be carried out near a river - allowing the raiders to make their escape across water.
They had set up surveillance on possible targets. It included the Dome, although no-one seriously believed then that anyone would attempt a raid on such an apparently secure site.
But on September 1, 2000, the Millennium diamonds were due to be moved from the Dome for a short period. Police thought if any robbery attempt was to be made it would be while they were out of their vault and in transit.
They monitored the Dome and its precincts intensely that day. Nothing happened.
But instead, Raymond Betson and his old friend William Cockram were spotted arriving at the Dome. They had been of interest to the Flying Squad since 1996 and were strongly suspected of taking part in other major robberies.
Betson had gone to the Dome at around 9am and Cockram arrived 50 minutes later.
Cockram had a video camera and went into the vault and started to film. They later went to nearby Surrey Quays before returning to the Dome again.
A secret surveillance video showed them meeting a third alleged member of the gang, Ciarrocchi, at Surrey Quays.
"You could not have a more conspiratorial group," said Mr Heslop.
Adams - known as Bob the Builder - was brought in at almost the last minute. He sledgehammered the armoured glass protecting the diamonds. After his arrest he told police ruefully: "I was 12 inches from pay day.
"It would have been a blinding Christmas. I cannot believe how easily the glass went. I only hit it twice. Then that f-ing mob came in and jumped on us."
To make doubly sure the gang could not succeed, the stones had already been substituted with fakes.
The real stones were exhibited in Tokyo that September. After the Flying Squad uncovered the plot, they were never returned to the Dome but replaced with dummies.
It is understood that the fakes may now become an exhibit in Scotland Yard's Crime Museum.Betson and Cockram, the two ringleaders of the plot, showed no emotion as they were led off to start their 18-year sentences.
Judge Coombe told them: "It was a wicked and highly professional crime."The judge said: "This trial has lasted a very long time and the facts are very well known."
He described the attempt to rob the jewels as a "very well planned and premeditated attempt." As he passed sentence, only Meredith appeared to show any emotion.
Sobbing could be heard from the public gallery as the judge told him he would spend five years in prison.
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