How police foiled Great Dome Heist

An audacious attempt by a gang of thieves to bulldoze their way into the Dome and steal £200million of diamonds would have been "the robbery of the millennium," the Old Bailey heard today.

But a "remarkable" police operation caught the gang redhanded before the "biggest robbery ever," it was claimed.

Terrified visitors fled as the gang drove their modified JCB at top speed towards their target.

The attempt last November had been planned with military-style precision with a 55mph speedboat waiting on the Thames nearby to whisk the gang and the diamonds to a getaway car on the far bank, the court heard.

The gang was equipped with gas masks, smoke grenades and two and a half pints of ammonia to squirt in the faces of whoever barred their way, it was alleged. They also had sledgehammers, wire cutters, body armour, an extremely powerful nail gun and sophisticated radios and scanners to intercept police messages.

They were thwarted by an extensive police surveillance operation. Detectives were ready and arrested the defendants as they attempted to enter the vault at the De Beers Millennium Exhibition, said Martin Heslop, QC, prosecuting.

He added: "The target was nothing less than the 12 extremely rare and valuable diamonds on display near the centre of the Dome," he said. They consisted of the Millennium Star and 11 blue diamonds which may well be the rarest and finest diamonds in the world.

"This gang was playing for very high stakes. This was no ordinary robbery. The value of the diamonds is conservatively estimated at - and I will pause before I give you the figure - conservatively estimated at a minimum of £200million. Had they succeeded it would have ranked in terms of value as the biggest robbery ever in the world and it could properly be described as the robbery of the millennium.

"The operation was planned professionally, carefully and down to the last detail and so well organised was it that it would probably have succeeded. They probably would have got away with it if it had not been for an equally professional, careful and detailed police operation."

The court heard that the plan was conceived even though the gang knew they would be confronted with massive security precautions at the Dome which was supervised by the police and security guards.

The robbers used a huge and powerful JCB, modified to carry four people, so that they could approach the Dome, which was teeming with construction workers, without arousing suspicion. They then planned to smash through the security fencing and into the heart of the building itself. "It was capable of reasonable speed and when driven fast with criminal intent it was extremely frightening - and exactly what they wanted," said Mr Heslop.

He added: "An armoured van or tank might have suited their purposes but in the high security surrounding the Dome they would never have got near it before being spotted."

The robbers planned to use the speedboat waiting at the Queen Elizabeth Pier to take them to at least one, possibly two, getaway vehicles and on to pre-arranged locations in the countryside.

Mr Heslop said that the four ringleaders were William Cochrane, 48 of Catford; Aldo Ciarocchi, 31, from Bermondsey and Robert Adams, 57, and Ray Betson, 39, both of no fixed address. They were on the JCB when it smashed its way into the Dome, the court heard. They were arrested "absolutely red-handed", the court heard. Kevin Meredith, 35, of Brighton, is said to have been the speedboat driver who was arrested in the boat as he waited.

Wayne Taylor, 35, of Tonbridge, was described as "not directly involved on the day" but played his part in the planning and reconnaissance.

A seventh man, Terence Millman, 56, has died since his arrest. He was the first getaway van driver waiting across the Thames, the jury was told.

All six have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to rob "together and with others".

The police operation involved "detailed detective work after senior Met officers came to suspect that there was or might be a plan by a number of men to try and get the diamonds from the Dome," the court heard.

A surveillance operation involved ceaseless hours shadowing the suspects by undercover officers, the court heard. The case continues.