Millennium Dome Raid - Day of Raid

Day of Raid

On 7 November at 9:30am, the police operation codenamed "Operation Magician" was underway and was commanded by Detective Superintendent Jon Shatford of the Metropolitan Police. The officers involved in the operation included a total of 200 officers of which forty were from the Specialist Firearms Command (SCO19). A further sixty armed Flying Squad officers were stationed around the Thames, and 20 on the river itself to hamper any escape attempts. Surveillance officers were also used as dome employees. The Millennium domes CCTV room was used by the police as a control room. All the officers were briefed at 3am on the day of the raid, the briefing detailed the contingency plans which were in place. Before the raid some officers were positioned behind a dummy wall and others were dressed as cleaners and Dome employees with their firearms concealed. Before the raid four members of the gang were identified in a JCB earth digger and all were wearing body armor with gas masks. The men were armed with smoke bombs, sledgehammers and nail guns and these were to be used to penetrate the security glass protecting the exhibit. The JCB was used by the gang to break through the perimeter fence and the gates of the dome to reach the money zone. The gang using the JCB successfully broke through into the vault, once inside they set off their smoke bombs and William Cockram attempted to break the glass where the diamonds were stored. Inside the dome, Cockram knew that the glass could resist the force of a 60-ton ram raid but his plan was to weaken the glass with three shots from a powerful Hilti nailgun and then another gang member, Robert Adams would then use a sledgehammer to break the weakened glass. The plan was working and the gang were inches away from the diamonds. Robert Adams was quoted as saying "I was 12 inches from pay day", later stating "It would have been a blinding Christmas". The police pounced on four members of the gang as they attempted to smash their way into the display case using sledgehammers and a nail gun. As these four men were being arrested, the other officers who were stationed around the dome arrested another man who was in a high-powered boat on the Thames. The police also arrested another man who they suspected of monitoring police radio frequencies. This suspect was detained on the north shore of the Thames opposite the Dome. All the suspects were apprehended, Terry Millman was apprehended in a van. Once all the suspects had been detained they were taken to police stations in South London. On the day of the raid by 1200 GMT some areas of the Dome had re-opened, but other areas, including the Money Zone, were cordoned off. An eye witness who was with a group of schoolchildren from Dorset said he was alerted by loud crashing noises. He added "All the kids were having a meal in Mcdonald's when there was a loud bang. I heard what sounded like automatic gunfire. When we were allowed back out there was a JCB digger parked by the Money Zone." At the scene of the arrest David James, the Dome's former executive chairman stated "They were all on the ground trussed up like Christmas turkeys." He added "It was relatively calm and they were almost joking with the police who were standing over them with guns". Detective Superintendent Jon Shatford defended the decision that was taken to wait until the gang had reached the diamonds before arresting them. He said "Our chief concern throughout was public safety. We decided it was better to let the robbers get to the vault where they were effectively imprisoned.

The serious crime unit of the Kent Police worked in conjunction with the Metropolitan Police Service and arrested six more people in connection with the raid on the Dome on Tuesday morning. These arrests were made in the village of Collier Street and Horsmonden. Police said the ages of the men ranged between 38 and 62.