All language subtitles for the.diamond.heist.s01e01.1080p.web.h264-demonicdiscerningpronghornofswiftness

The essence
of any great story

is the "fuck me" moment.

It was one of the
most daring robberies ever.

Biggest diamond
heist in the world.

One where you go,
"Fuck me, really?"

This was the
glittering prize.

The De Beers Millennium Star,
a flawless stone of 203 carats.

Worth over 350 million.

It's audacious
in the extreme.

It was just something
you couldn't comprehend.

You couldn't imagine that
people would attempt it.

How the f... hell
did they do it?

Are you all sitting comfortably?
And I'll begin.

I wasn't surprised someone was
going to try and steal the diamonds

because if I was a robber, I
would probably think the same way.

You can't help but be
impressed by their planning,

by their balls.

You wouldn't believe it if it
were in the movies, but it's true.

This was the epitome

of the great, "Fuck
me, that is a story."

Seeing the Dome
brings back a lot of memories.

It was a really wild
time in my life.

I've never spoken
about what happened.

But I feel like I'm finally ready
to tell my side of the story.

I think the best
place to start...

would be July 2000.

Four months before
the diamond heist.

Target spotted.
Right on schedule.

Copy that.

We're in position.

We spent months planning
a job on a security van.

There was 8,900,000 in there.

It was the
biggest job of my life.

But before we could
get to the cash...

we had to take care of
the security guards.

Gentlemen, put your
hands on the windscreen.

On the inside of the cab,
they've got a panic button,

so we needed to get them to put
their hands on the windscreen.

I said...

put your fucking hands
on the windscreen!

Even with a shotgun
pointed at their faces...

...some security guards
try to be heroes.

So I made sure that we had a backup plan.

♪ Change my pitch up ♪

The security van's bulletproof,

but it's not bombproof.

♪ Change my pitch up... ♪

We didn't want to harm anybody.

We just wanted to scare them into
doing what we want them to do.

If someone put it on the side of your
car, and it looks like a landmine...

...what are you gonna do?

The only way to get into the back
of that van is to make a hole in it.

Go!

But you don't want it to be
like it was on The Italian Job

when they blew the van up.

You're only supposed to
blow the bloody doors off!

So, why
not make something?

Smash the doors open in the
back without damaging the money.

♪ Change my pitch up ♪

There's nearly £9 million
in the little cages inside.

But as soon as the
police turned up,

we knew we're not gonna have
time to get that money out.

From then on, it was get away.

Go, go!

Armed and masked robbers
used a van equipped with a steel spike

to ram a Securicor
van early today.

There were reports
of shots being fired.

Police say it
was a well-planned attack.

It was
completely gutting.

This job was supposed
to be my big payday,

the one to set me up for
life and give me respect.

It takes a few weeks
to get over it.

But then you bounce back
up and you go again.

♪ I like a new Lincoln ♪

- Oh, this song takes me back.
- ♪ With all of its class ♪

♪ I like a martini ♪

♪ And bird on the glass... ♪

My role model growing up
would be my father, I suppose.

♪ ...start living,
you wait and see... ♪

We'd go down to the local pub and meet
up with all these old sort of gangsters.

Who made it a law that it's wrong
to go and get what you want?

If a lion wants something to feed
its babies, it goes and gets it.

So we do the same.

I respect what they do and
how they carried themselves.

I was in that little crowd with
them, and you wanna be like them.

♪ Nothing but the best ♪

♪ Is good enough for me ♪

What'd you think
your dad did for a living?

From day one, I knew exactly
what he was doing for a living.

Every two or three weeks,

my dad's place was
getting raided by police.

Nine years old, just lying
in bed, you're asleep,

and all of a sudden your bedroom
door's just, like, knocked open.

So, what are
your thoughts on the police?

Um...

I think they're all
a bunch of cunts.

♪ Like a train going
down the track... ♪

- Go! Come on!
- All right.

When I was younger,
I was game to do anything.

Hurry up!

Lee, come on! Hurry up!

But the first
thing I really stole was a JCB.

Come on!

Come on!

It was a bit nerve-wracking.
I was a bit shaky.

You know, you're 15 years old, and
you've just stolen a ten-ton machine.

But once you've
got away with that first one,

it's just, "Let's do it again."

♪ Like a train
going out of sight ♪

♪ I will never forget
this night... ♪

I started getting into
bringing over cigarettes.

And then taking out cash points.

I was pulling in six grand a week.
That's a lot of money in your 20s.

I didn't want to just
be like the average Joe

and just go to work every day.

I wanted to be different.

I can swear, right?

- Yeah.
- Thank God 'cause it's, like, my language.

Do you know, it's, like, even if I go out,
I'll be in the pub, I don't know anyone.

I'll get someone going, "You're
Lee Wenham's daughter." I'm like...

"No, I don't know who
you're talking about."

They're like, "Yeah. We saw him."
And we're like, "Fuck's sake."

Everyone knows our family. If you mention
the Wenhams, they're like, "We know them."

What did you think your dad
did for a living when you were younger?

We never asked. It was a
question that was never asked.

Actually, no, I actually
remember asking him

because I was in school. It was,
like, "What does Mummy and Daddy do?"

And the answer was always,
"You don't want to know."

I never wanted my kids
to know what I was up to.

And I tried to hide
it as much as I could.

I didn't want them, um...

going down the same path.

He was very good at
hiding everything he was doing.

You wouldn't have known at all.

I just remember him being really
protective over me and my sister

all the time.

Me and my sister
were my dad's world.

When I got to my 20s,

I was more or less there with
what I wanted to achieve.

I'd made a lot of money.
I was comfortable.

I had my daughters.

But there was one thing missing.

I wanted to be like
my dad and his mates,

and I just wanted the
respect of people,

like people would look at them,
the respect they gave them.

I wanted to do something really
big, to say that I did that.

And then in July 2000, my
dad introduced me to Ray Betson.

Ray's very well-connected.

He's a big fish in London,
in the criminal world.

Very sort of, uh... very suave.

He had very dark
eyes, like shark eyes.

Look into his eyes, you could see
he could handle himself, you know.

If you crossed him, yeah,
you knew you'd be in trouble.

A lot of trouble.

Ray told me that he was
planning something really big,

and he needed my help.

It's gonna take a lot
of careful planning.

But if we can pull it off, it means
everyone gets a big payday, that's what.

Ray told me the target
he was going for

was in the Millennium Dome.

But I didn't have
any idea what it was.

I've worked in national
newspapers for 30-odd years,

and when they built
the Millennium Dome...

it had disaster
written all over it.

And I thought, "Wow."

That was a story that was
gonna sell newspapers.

The great thing
about newspapers,

particularly tabloid newspapers,
is that things change so quickly.

At the end of the 20th century,

there was an amazing period
of change in Britain.

No retreat from the
road to the future.

There was a new government that
was led by a guy called Tony Blair.

There was something that
was called Cool Britannia.

The Union
Jack is in fashion.

We had Britpop. We had Oasis.
We had Blur. We had the Spice Girls.

And they were setting
fire to the world.

♪ Come, oh ye faithful... ♪

TV was exploding, social media
was starting to appear, the Internet.

It was a great, exciting time.

And this government

was determined to
cash in on this.

Well...

So, in their excitement to
try to mark the millennium coming,

they decided they were gonna
build the Millennium Dome.

This is
Britain's opportunity

to greet the world with a
celebration that is so bold...

There'd be
lots of exhibitions.

And they got De Beers to create,
effectively, a museum of diamonds.

I was always interested
in beautiful things,

but the diamond is very special.

It's like magic.

Something draws you to it,
and then you can't let it go.

Diacore and myself are in
the business of diamonds,

and we specialize in the
very, very rare diamonds.

In the middle of the 1990s,

there was a stone that was discovered
in a very remote area in Zaire,

which is supposed to be the
greatest stone of times.

I can show you how it looks.

I think I have it... here.

This was the rough.

It was 777 carat, which
is extremely unusual.

And the amazing thing is, normally
when you get big diamonds,

they're only very low quality.

But this was extremely clear,

what we call ice material.

And the way it presented itself in
the rough was a freak of nature.

Then what runs
through your head is,

I have to cut this
stone.

When it was
finished, I was convinced

that we made the most
beautiful diamond in existence.

Two hundred and three carats.

We called it

the Millennium Star.

Well, you can imagine how
I feel. It's beautiful.

If the board had asked me, "Where
shouldn't we display this diamond,"

the place I would have
said to you was Greenwich,

because, you know, that Millennium Dome
wasn't an area to display diamonds.

I never really had a
look all round Greenwich,

because it was a bit of
a dump place, I think.

It was sort of run-down
after the Second World War.

It was a long way from De
Beers in the center of London.

The police are not
close by, as such.

East London isn't exactly known as
being the natural home of diamonds

and precious things,

not least because it's
been a hotbed of crime

for as long as it's existed.

The notorious Kray brothers
came from out here.

Endless gangsters were
based out in that area,

and yet De Beers were putting on an almost
obscene display of incredible wealth.

Maybe that wasn't
such a good idea.

The Dome was basically a
tent with a flat, concrete floor,

and nothing else.

So, it must have been
red rag to a bull

that some thieves would be
looking at this, thinking,

"How can I actually steal
these particular diamonds?"

We had to build something there
that enabled us to be ensured

that when the diamonds were put
in there, they couldn't be stolen.

First of all, we bought
a hexagonal vault,

which was three-feet thick with
these metal bars inside it.

This would stop people
trying to drill through it...

...and withstand the penetration of
something like an armored vehicle

trying to smash
through the side walls.

It had various
types of detectors.

Any movement from literally
a fly would set these things off.

At the same time,
inside were cameras,

and these were fed back
to our security room

with three men on duty 24 hours a day
to cover whatever was going on inside.

Now the next thing
is the display cabinets.

They were very important,

and I remember paying
something like £56,000

for this impregnable glass.

It was stated by the company that
a demented person with an ice axe

after half an hour might be
able to penetrate the glass.

It was a Fort Knox,
no doubt about it.

Ray told me the
target they was going for

was Millennium Star.

Crazy.

It was a little bit
farfetched, I think,

a bit too out there.

Too much attention
around the Dome.

It was just too big.
It was too public.

But Ray told me,

if we can pull it off...

it was going to be the
biggest heist of all time.

The gang took 120 mailbags,
holding £2.5 million in banknotes.

♪ Get money, money Get
money, money, money ♪

♪ We only wanna
make that cash... ♪

Robbers got away with
nearly three tons of gold bullion

from the Brink's-Mat
vault at Heathrow Airport.

♪ Make that stack ♪

♪ Watch this... ♪

The three armed
raiders emptied 126 boxes

of millions of pounds'
worth of jewelry.

♪ Cash make me feel better... ♪

The mugger threatened him,
forcing him to hand over £292 million.

♪ ...make me feel better ♪

♪ Go through the cash
and stack 'em up ♪

♪ Stack 'em up ♪

♪ Double the cash
and stack 'em up ♪

♪ Stack 'em, stack 'em up ♪

♪ Get money, money Get
money, money, money... ♪

Ray said I was
gonna get a million quid.

A million quid
sounds good to me.

What did Ray tell you
he was gonna do with the diamonds?

Obviously he's not gonna nick
them and put them in the cupboard.

Ray had a buyer, but I
don't know who it was.

I didn't want to
know, to be honest.

I didn't say no.

I left it a couple of
days, and in that time,

I went up to have
a look for myself.

♪ Double my Double my,
double my, double my ♪

I took my
daughter Beth with me.

Just thought if I had a
family or a daughter with me,

then I would just sort of
blend into everyone else.

There was never a plan with
Dad. He's a very impulsive person.

So it was literally just wake
up and he was like, "Right."

"Got a day out planned. Get in the
car. We're gonna go up to the Dome."

It was like, "This is a great day
out. You know, this is so fun for us."

Not knowing the reason why
we were there.

We walked into
the Dome, walked around.

Uh, they had a show on inside, some
display of people on ropes and stuff.

There was some big
thing you walk through.

It's like a giant person, and
you walked the whole way through it,

and then, like, all the organs
were, like, there, next to you.

Giant. In your face.

I don't know who came up with that
idea, but it was creepy as hell.

I just thought it
was crap, to be honest.

Thought it was shit.

Millennium Dome
organizers shocked the world today

by announcing they've
sold hardly any tickets.

This is due to bad advertising

or because it sounds like the
most rubbish day out ever.

Easy, boy, it's okay.

There was this general
feeling of failure about it.

What's wrong with the Dome?

I mean, there must be
something wrong with it.

It got to the point

where it was becoming the
butt of comedians' jokes.

Where have I taken you, then?

The Millennium Dome.

Oh yeah, I'm really
sorry about that.

Ladies
and gentlemen,

we are honored to present
the De Beers Millennium Star.

The only exciting
thing was the diamonds.

As you walk in, there was, I think,
11 blue diamonds in a cabinet.

I remember thinking,
"Wow, look. They're so pretty."

Every girl, you're like,
"Diamonds, I want a diamond."

And I actually remember asking my dad.
I was like, "Can I have one one day?"

Maybe he took that
too seriously.

And then the main Millennium
Star was in, like, a circle glass.

It was something to see.

I was amazed how big it was.

The colors of it, it was
beautiful, absolutely beautiful.

It just gleams in every
way you look at it.

Thinking about it now, bit of a piss-take,
wasn't it, putting it where it was.

The East End and that part of London,
it's a rat race of thieves, isn't it?

And you go and put
it in the lion's den.

I was thinking, "Obviously
we've gotta have it."

Don't know anything
about diamonds.

You know, it's not my field.

So I knew it was gonna be a lot heavier
than what I've ever done before.

It was a big risk.

But I just thought
we could do this.

It's not gonna be
easy, but we can do it.

I wanted to be involved
in something really big.

And it couldn't get
much bigger, could it?

So, why not? Let's go for it.

We needed to figure out how
we're gonna get inside the Dome,

get into the vault,

get the diamond,

and then get away without
being caught by the police.

But me and Ray couldn't
do it on our own.

You can't do a job of this
caliber with two people.

You do need a big team
to cover every base.

The first thing, we needed someone
who could get into the diamond cases.

Someone who was quite good
with tools and stuff like that.

Bob Adams was, like, a handyman.

Bob was always joking that he
was like Joe Pesci from Goodfellas,

that sort of character.

Funny how? How am I funny?

Get the fuck out of here, Tommy.

Took the whole job like it was just
another day of going to the office.

I almost had him.
I almost had him.

The second
person that we needed

was someone who could handle
things if it got rough.

Someone who wouldn't
hesitate to do the business.

Bill Cockram was Ray's
right-hand man, really.

Any security guards try to get involved,
then Bill would be there to sort them out.

The next
person that we needed

was someone to be in charge of
the technical side of things.

From 9-90, he's
near Forest Road towards Kingswood.

Aldo was younger.

Straight across.

He knew Ray and Bill
from South London.

I thought he was a
bit of a ladies' man.

You would never think he'd
be into doing things like this.

But he... he obviously was.

The final person we needed

was someone who had a lot of
experience doing robberies.

Open it.

So, that's why
we come onto Terry.

Terry was a fucking nightmare.

He was a proper East
End gangster, Terry was.

Wouldn't blink an eye at pulling
a gun out and shooting someone.

Nothing fazed him.

Thank you.

So, we had a team.

Now we need to get to work.

Ray was talking about
how to get into the Dome

when it closed at night.

Obviously, you can't
drive into the Dome

'cause of all the
obstacles in the way.

So I went back to the Dome
and surveyed the place.

I just started slowly walking
around the Dome again,

trying to figure out
a way to get inside.

The outside skin of the Dome,

it's got shutters
where you can get in.

Massive big roller shutters.

I think they're made of
Perspex and aluminum.

Outside the Dome,

there were these
really big steel gates.

I knew it was gonna take something
big to smash through them.

Then I realized that

there was a lot of building
work going on around the Dome.

And I just thought,

"Why don't we use a JCB?"

A JCB could go through
any part of the Dome.

It'll knock every obstacle
down along the way.

You know, it's like a tank.

A tank in disguise.

I knew the JCB was
going to work, 100%.

I stole the JCB,

put it into a little safe house
that we had, uh, to get it ready.

And that was that.

The diamond case
was really thick glass.

You're not gonna put a diamond like that
in just behind a piece of double glazing.

You can stand all day
with a sledgehammer.

Not gonna go through.

So, we were thinking

for hours and hours

how to get through those cases.

And then,

I realized that

you have to weaken it first.

I suggested that
we use a Hilti gun.

A Hilti gun is a nail gun that
fires nails through steel.

Everyone was a bit
skeptical about it.

They didn't think the nail gun would
be strong enough to break the glass.

I said, "Let me get
one and then show you."

I knew it would work.

He's a one-off, Dad.

Yeah, I don't think it was ever
on his mind to just be normal

and have a normal job.

But he's in a different world.

I come from a
gypsy traveling family.

When we were kids,

we would be in a caravan traveling
from one place to the other.

We didn't really socialize with a
lot of people, only our own people.

Gypsies don't go to an office
and go into work nine-to-five.

We do things differently.

I'm dyslexic, and I really struggle
with my reading and writing.

So, I was pulled out of
school when I was 12.

And then I was going
to work with my dad.

From then on,

every day was just
something to do with crime.

And I was getting good at it.

I went back to
the Dome a dozen times.

The vault itself was
so big and so thick,

you're not gonna get in without
digging and it'd take a long time.

And if you use explosives, the
diamond could end up in the river.

So, what's the point of that?

How the fuck are we going
to get into that vault?

The vault door was made of solid
steel, about two-feet thick.

It needed two men to
open or shut the thing.

That's how heavy it was.

I was completely confident
that it was pretty impregnable.

What if someone had the code
to the vault? Could they get in that way?

No. The vault door
was on a time lock.

It would be set for
the display times...

...which were nine
o'clock in the morning

and finishing at about six
o'clock in the evening.

So, when the doors close,
you set the time lock,

and you can't open it.

Of course, there's always somebody
who's probably brighter than you are

who may be able to break in,

but, uh, I felt that it would be
a very special team to do that.

The plan was always to do it
when the Dome was closed at night.

But I was thinking,

"When's the best time to
go? When the door's open."

The only problem doing it in the daytime
is obviously people being around.

Someone could get on their phone
and call the police straightaway.

Someone could get hurt.

But there was no other choice.

You had to go in there
when the door was open.

So, we needed to figure out the
best time in the day to go in.

And that's when Ray said
he had a brother-in-law

that worked at the Dome.

He said he could,
uh, help us out.

I was a highly respected
policeman in South London.

I remember my first day
within the job in Peckham...

and within less than 30 minutes,

there was a struggle, and it ended up
with a knife at my throat like this.

It was, um, pretty
scary and frightening.

But in 1999,

I had the opportunity to work
on the Millennium Dome team.

They were a team to patrol the
outside perimeter of the Dome.

I can't say it was the most
exciting job I've ever done.

One of the things
they did was offer

complimentary tickets
to the policing teams.

So, I gave them to my wife,

and, uh, they've ended
up with her sister.

I was on duty that night

patrolling outside.

My wife's sister came
out with her boyfriend.

He introduced himself
as Ray Betson.

He said he was a
property developer.

He clearly had a good
lifestyle, money.

He was very smartly dressed.

He was very suave.

I mean, the best
way to describe him,

he looked a bit like a James Bond
figure. He could've been James Bond.

We spoke for about a couple of
minutes, and Ray thanked me,

and, uh, you know,
they went on their way.

I'd see Ray at
family gatherings.

And he was
always pleasant to talk to.

Very charming.

Always really polite
to my mother-in-law,

my father-in-law, and my wife.

You know, always seemed
the perfect gentleman.

Then, one day,

Ray turned up at my house.

Ray said to us,

"Would it bother you if I told
you I'm not a property developer,

I'm an armed robber"?

I was thinking maybe
he's winding me up.

But he was very sincere.

Very controlled.

And then he says,

"I've come up with a way
to give you some money."

"You provide me
with information."

"As a result of that,

I'll be able to
give you £250,000."

I felt

a sort of disbelief, if you
like, that it was even happening.

Ray made it clear

that he was very professional,

he led a very trusted
team of armed robbers,

and that everything was planned
down to the last detail,

and nothing could go wrong.

What Ray was suggesting
was that I joined his team

as the inside man,

so that his team
commits armed robbery

based on the information
that I was providing.

I didn't like the idea
of committing a crime,

but £250,000 is a lot of money.

Ray told me we were gonna hit
the Dome first thing in the morning.

After sort of ten o'clock,

coaches started coming in.

Then it was busy until
it closed at night.

Inside the Dome,
it was a big, big space.

So, you know, that area
would be moderately quiet.

Ray said that at that time,
security guards were absolute shit.

There was just, like, four or five people
walking around with a walkie-talkie.

So, going in at that time in the morning
is the only time it could be done.

This is the
Millennium Dome.

The Dome was built on a peninsula...
so there's just one way out.

The traffic at the
time was pretty heavy.

Never gonna get
away with a van or car.

It was just too risky.

The last
robbery didn't work...

...but the getaway was perfect.

So why don't we use
another speedboat?

You're on the Thames,
right by the river.

Best thing to use.

Luckily,

Bill Cockram knew a
boatman and spoke to him,

and he got him on board.

And who was that?

Kevin Meredith.

He was quite handy
with a speedboat.

So that's the getaway sorted.

So, we're getting close.

We were all ready to go.

Everything was in position.

Really thought it'd work.

The plan was

JCB would come along here.

This is where we'd crash
through the side of the Dome.

Drive around the Dome
to the diamond vault.

Bill and Bob would
go into the vault,

get the diamonds.

The speedboat was gonna
come over to here,

pick everyone up from there.

The speedboat goes across
the Thames to Terry,

and then Terry drives
away with everyone in.

And we all live happily
ever after.

This is a huge
risk you're taking, isn't it?

Did you think about the
consequences if it didn't work out?

Um...

I just blocked it out.

I wanted to carry on
what we were doing.

This job would
cement a legacy for me.

And I'd get a lot of
respect for doing it.

I'd be someone.

Hi, how's it going?

But, uh...

Obviously, I adored
my daughters.

And I wanted to slow down and
start being more responsible.

Go a straight life.

So, I decided to myself,

this was gonna be my last job.

Two days' time, I could be
sitting on a lot of money.

Or not.

For a crime
to take place,

there has to be the mindset
of somebody wants to do it.

There has to be a target
for them to steal.

And there has to be nobody
around to stop them.

But what this gang of criminals didn't
know was that we were following them.

We knew that they were
planning something big.

We just didn't know
what the target was

or when they were gonna strike.

But whatever plan they had,

we were gonna be
there to stop them.