Dome raid becomes film

The bungled £200 million diamond robbery from the Millennium Dome has inspired a new crime caper - but in the film, a master criminal is set to beat the police by using the Dome raid as a cover for an even bigger crime.

Working Title Films, behind hits such as Bridget Jones's Diary, has bought a script called The Rip by David Logan.

The film is based on the attempted theft of £200 million worth of De Beers diamonds from the Dome in 2000, including the huge Millennium Star.

The raid was likened to a James Bond film after the thieves, wearing gas masks, smashed into the Dome in an earth digger.

Unknown to the robbers, the police had been tipped off and were waiting. Six men were arrested. As one gang member said: "We would have got away with it but for the fact there were 140 police waiting for us."

The producers, now casting, will be hoping The Rip is a rather more successful venture.