01x02 - Cops

[bunniefuu]

[uneasy music playing]

[plants rustling]

[chain rumbling in distance]

[uneasy music continues]

[man 1] There can be
lots of drivers as to why

somebody becomes a criminal.

It can range from social
pressures due to the environment,

their conditioning.

It could be because of
the challenge of it.

Or it could be just
the thrill of doing it.

But whatever the reason,

there's always
going to be a risk

that they come up
against people like me,

and I'll be there to stop them.

[opening theme music playing]

[compelling string
music playing]

[man 1] My name's
John Swinfield,

but everybody calls me Swini.

[cell door rattling, clanging]

[Swini] I was a detective
inspector on the Flying Squad.

[tires screeching]

[Swini] We were the elite team
in dealing with armed robberies

of national importance.

And over the years, we
undertook many big operations.

[dramatic opera music playing]

[Swini] From the
Great Train Robbery...

He was grabbed, pushed down the bank,
and held by another man who said,

"If you shout, I'll k*ll you."

...to the Brink's-Mat
bullion robberies.

[reporter 1] The bullion
thieves forced their way

into the top security
depot this morning.

The robbers got away
with nearly £26 million.

[Swini] We are diligent,
and we are focused

on catching armed robbers
in the act of armed robbery.

- [sirens wailing]
- [upbeat music playing]

The Flying Squad were all about
roaring around in high-powered cars,

raiding the bad guys,

arresting them.

They were every bit of glamour
that there could be in a policeman.

You pillock!

There was a famous TV series made
about them called The Sweeney.

[man yelling]

Get your trousers
on. You're nicked.

[Neil] They were the elite
police unit in Britain,

but certain areas of the Flying
Squad became very corrupt.

Two London police officers have admitted
to a string of offenses, which sparked...

...the biggest corruption investigation
in the history of the police force.

[Neil] A series of
scandals began to emerge

in the '80s and '90s.

And I, as a reporter,
covered quite a lot of them.

Key evidence against him had been
planted by a Flying Squad detective.

As many as 250 officers
may be corrupt.

[Neil] As we got
into the late '90s,

the reputation of the
Flying Squad was in tatters.

But there were good people in there
who were determined to restore it.

[keyboard clacking]

[Neil] What they needed

was a high-profile, very
successful operation

that they were seen
to absolutely win.

They wanted to be
the good guys again.

[keyboard clacking]

[Swini] In February 2000,

I was told there'd been a major
attempted robbery in London.

- [dark string music playing]
- [sirens wailing]

[Swini] It was a security van

that was making a
multimillion-pound delivery

when it was stopped
in a car park.

[reporter 3] g*ng members blocked access
with these three heavy goods vehicles,

bringing much of South-East
London to a standstill.

[Swini] The robbers had a six-foot
spike mounted on the lorry

to ram the back of
the security vehicle,

to pierce it like a can opener.

But whilst they were out of the
cab preparing for the attack,

a member of the public reached
in the door and took the keys.

- [tense rhythmic music playing]
- [sirens wailing distantly]

[Swini] That, of course,
stopped the attack.

The robbers then ran
down onto the Thames,

where they escaped on
a waiting speedboat.

It was innovative. It was very
creative. It was well-organized.

The level of sophistication that
was being shown in this robbery

was far above anything
we'd seen before.

There was no information as
to who the suspects were,

other than these were first-class,
professional armed robbers,

who, no doubt, would be
looking for target number two.

You're f*cking right! [laughing]

[birds chirping]

[Swini] Then, in
July later that year,

Aylesford got hit.

[reporter 3] Armed and masked robbers
used a van equipped with a steel spike

to ram the Securicor
van early today.

[Swini] Myself and
my two deputies

went down to Kent, and we spoke
with the investigators at Aylesford.

[suspenseful music playing]

[man 2] It's something I'd
certainly never seen before.

The robbers had got a truck,

and they'd concreted in
a large metal spike...

[truck engine revving]

...and they put this spike into
the back of the Securicor truck.

There was a police
car in the area,

and within about seven or
eight minutes, they turned up.

- [sirens wailing]
- [g*n c*ck, fires]

[Ian] Robbers fired two
shots at the police officers,

and then got in their
vehicles and fled.

[boat motor roaring]

[Ian] They had a
boat on the river.

The robbers jumped in the boat,

and that was the
last we saw of them.

There'd been lots and lots
of planning going on before.

It was all very sort of
James Bond, really, I guess.

[suspenseful music continues]

[Swini] At the first robbery,

they'd written on the side
of the spike, "Gerty,"

which is short for Gertrude.

And at the Aylesford
robbery, written on the spike

was, "Gerty 2,
persistent, aren't we?"

[producer] Why Gerty


I don't know what you're
talking about, mate.

[Swini] We felt that it was quite clearly
the same g*ng who were trying again.

That was their calling card,
telling us that we are not stopping.

I'm sure they were frustrated
at the two failed attempts,

and now they would have started
planning a number three.

So, we needed to arrest these people and
lock them away for a long, long time.

If we were gonna catch
them and convict them,

we needed to catch
them in the act.

So my focus was,

"Let's identify
who the g*ng were

and what their next
target was gonna be."

[Ian] As the
investigation progressed,

we had, um, very
little to go on.

It wasn't until
about six weeks later

that we got a real major break.

[dramatic opera music playing]

[sirens wailing]

[Ian] There's a pub just
outside Maidstone in Kent.

Someone had a drink and then
crashed into the wall of the pub.

Police had been called to the
scene, arrested the driver.

The person arrested for drink-driving
was a man by the name of Terry Millman.

[g*n fires]

[Ian] A quick check of
our systems soon revealed

that Terry Millman was a
lifelong career criminal

and, more importantly,
an armed robber.

Once we had Millman's name, we could
then run his name forensically.

There was a bucket and some gloves in
one of the vehicles left at the scene.

[vehicle door closes]

[Ian] We were able to get Terry
Millman's fingerprints off that bucket.

In normal circumstances, we'd
arrest him for that robbery.

But I think we all agreed that we wanted
to let him run and see where it took us.

[intriguing music playing]

[Swini] We followed him to the
farm. It was called Tong Farm.

It was deep in Kent,

very rural.

Tong Farm was owned by a
family called the Wenhams.

[Ian] The Wenhams had a
certain notoriety about them.

It was pretty well known that, um,
they were up to... up to no good.

[Lee laughing]

[Swini] We were focusing
on the Wenhams as a family.

But we started to become aware
that the more active member

was Lee.

He was somebody who had
his finger in lots of pies.

So, our attention focused

on developing intelligence
and surveillance around him.

[man 3] Back in 2000,

I was a detective
sergeant on SO11...

which was New Scotland
Yard's surveillance wing.

I was sat in my car,

and I got a call
from John Swinfield.

[cell phone ringing]

[Jools] They were looking
at a guy called Lee Wenham.

And they were looking
to do what we would term

"lifestyle surveillance."

[dramatic opera music playing]

[woman] Any time that
Lee Wenham left the farm,

we were tasked
with following him.

Just to see where he went, what
he was up to, who he was meeting,

where he was going.

It could've been
something like this,

you know, sitting in a
café, meeting somebody.

Just doing normal things
that people are doing,

not necessarily up to no good.

But it was unpredictable.

We never knew what
was gonna happen.

[Jools] One day at the
beginning of August,

he left the farm,

and we suddenly start
heading towards London.

[pensive music playing]

[Jools] We hadn't been to
London before with him.

Eventually, we end up
pulling off the motorway,

and he parks up at the Dome.

He then... goes inside.

[Carol] That was a complete
surprise to all of us

because the Dome had a bit of
a reputation as a damp squib.

It's a tourist attraction that
doesn't seem to hold any attraction.

[Carol] It wasn't somewhere I would've
visited by choice, put it that way.

Nobody knows what it's for.
Nobody knows who it's for.

- It's blandness.
- [duck squeaking]

Why would Lee Wenham
wanna go to the Dome?

[Carol] We deployed on
foot to follow him in.

He was with a female and a kid.

And he was doing what
everybody else does,

looking at the exhibitions.

And then...

he goes into the De
Beers exhibition,

and I go in there as well.

It's very small in there, very
confined space. It's very dark.

There's a central glass cabinet
with the Millennium Star in it.

He stayed inside the
exhibit for five minutes,

and then he carried
on with his day.

We came away at the end
of that day thinking,

"It's just a day
out at the Dome."

Then probably
about a week later,

he follows the same route
that he went the week before.

All of us were thinking, "Well, he
can't be going back to the Dome again."

But he pulls into the car park

and enters the Dome.

We accept a few people are
gonna go and visit the Dome,

but nobody goes
to the Dome twice.

- Have you got a ticket for the Dome?
- No, no.

- [reporter] Would you like to come back?
- Uh... No, not particularly.

[Jools] There has to be a reason
he's driven all the way from Kent,

paid again to get in.

[Swini] The Dome had lots of little
retail outlets and businesses

with cash going in and out.

So, it might have been an attack
on a cash office in the Dome.

But it wasn't a
great deal of money.

So the risk isn't
worth the reward.

[Carol] At that time,

he went straight to the vault,

and while he was in there,

he was looking very
closely at the diamonds.

He had a camcorder with
him and was recording.

[Swini] And he was observed
looking at cameras up on the wall

and appeared to be making notes.

[dramatic opera music playing]

It was like, in our opinion,
somebody doing a reconnaissance.

[light bulb dinging]

Hooray, I've got it!

[Swini] So from
what we're seeing,

I felt

he was gonna steal the
Millennium Diamonds,

£350 million worth.

[slot machine clinking,
playing music]

- [woman gasping, laughing breathlessly]
- [crowd laughing]

[Jools] Well, I think
the initial reaction was,

"That can't be." It would just be...
It would just be too audacious.

- [intriguing music playing]
- [camera shutters clicking]

[Carol] It was so outlandish.

Maybe they'd been
watching too many movies

and got some ideas about
what they wanted to do.

[Swini] The reality was,
they'd done two robberies,

both with
multimillion-pound payoffs.

They'd been unsuccessful,

and they were looking
for their third big job,

and this fitted that.

- [intriguing music continues]
- [camera shutters clicking]

[Swini] But this was not their
usual load that they went after.

It upped the scale and the
value of what they were doing.

So, we felt that there had
to be new members of the g*ng

involved in the job,

capable of pulling
off this robbery.

[intriguing music playing]

[Swini] I never thought

that Wenham was the
brains behind the idea,

but we became convinced
that Tong Farm was the key

to identifying the g*ng leader

and the main
perpetrators involved.

This is a place where you
could comfortably operate,

plan, prepare,

safe from prying
eyes, you would think.

["Cash In My Pocket"
by Wiley playing]

♪ EskiBoy, yo ♪

- ♪ Your host for the day ♪
- ♪ One ♪

- ♪ Don't let me waste my money ♪
- ♪ Go ♪

♪ I see a new path,
I can make half ♪

♪ Make new money Now I
got a new laugh, ha ♪

♪ Music is paying me well ♪

♪ So I ain't gonna be the one
To go and find a new craft... ♪

[Swini] We placed cameras at the
entry and exit points to the farm.

♪ Triple Akon gotta
find a new pass ♪

♪ Advise me not to do it
When I'm buying new cars ♪

♪ All I really want Is
money in my pocket ♪

♪ Cash in my hand,
oh, skrilla... ♪

[Swini] It meant that we
could actually capture faces

in various vehicles turning up.

♪ ...money in my
pocket, cash in my... ♪

[technician] Camera one is up.

♪ ...skrilla in
my wallet, yeah ♪

♪ If Don gets one,
puts away half ♪

♪ So when I get one I'm
gonna put away half ♪

♪ I make money slow,
I make money fast ♪

♪ But I do it like
Ronson Hard day's craft ♪

♪ All I really want... ♪

[technician] Camera two is up.

[Swini] We also decided that we
would use human surveillance...

- [birds cawing]
- [wings flapping]

...that would be camouflaged
in the environment.

♪ Cash in my hand... ♪

[technician] Camera three is up.

♪ ...in my wallet, yeah ♪

♪ Skrilla in my wallet... ♪

[Swini] But the surveillance
brought its problems.

Lee Wenham only had
to be lucky once

and find a camera lens,

and the job would've been blown.

[machine clicks]

[machine whirring]

[tense music playing]

[machine clicks]

[Swini] We were regularly
reviewing footage,

and on one occasion...

[machine clicks]

...we see on the monitor

the arrival of an individual...

[machine clicking]

...who we identified

as being Bill c*ck.

[intense music playing]

Bill c*ck was involved in a
wide range of criminal things.

He'd been arrested for
violence and theft.

[Jools] c*ck and Wenham

did a proper reconnaissance
of the Millennium Star.

So, we felt sure that c*ck was
going to be one of the people up front

on the robbery.

[Swini] c*ck
was a heavy hand.

[glass shattering]

He didn't feature as somebody
with the organizational capability

to be the leader of the g*ng.

The next face we
identified was Bob Adams.

Adams had previous convictions
for a serious as*ault,

as well as the
importation of cocaine.

But he never, ever featured,
in our understanding,

as having any other role
other than a supporting role.

[Jools] On a further
visit to the Dome,

we had another
person with Wenham.

They went outside,
sat down on a bench,

and reviewed their own
footage of the exhibition.

And that person we identified
as Aldo Ciarrocchi.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Swini] He had very, very little
criminal offenses, to his credit,

a lot younger than
the other criminals.

So, we didn't think that he
would be running the operation.

Who was putting
this job together?

[machine clicks]

[Swini] And then one day, we
see this c*ck turn up...

with somebody who we
hadn't seen before.

[rap song playing]

♪ Swaggerific,
baby, I'm prolific ♪

♪ Like a genie in the bottle I
go Ollie Shaw is wishing... ♪

[Swini] He just had a demeanor
and a confidence about him.

His dress, his mannerisms.

He appeared to look
like a classic gangster.

And the comment in the room was,

"It looks like the general
inspecting his troops."

We managed to
identify the person...

♪ Swaggerific, baby,
I'm prolific... ♪

...as being Ray Betson.

♪ ...genie in the bottle I
go Ollie Shaw is wishing ♪

♪ Aim, I don't miss... ♪

[Carol] Ray Betson, to me,
reminded me a bit of Tony Soprano.

He wasn't someone
to be messed with.

He was a big guy and
was... in control.

[Swini] We felt he was the
one who had the connections

and the resources
for the robbery.

But it left a question mark.

[rap song fades]

[Swini] Was it realistic they
could get these diamonds?

We needed to speak to
somebody at De Beers.

[dramatic music playing]

[man 4] I wasn't surprised someone
was gonna try and steal the diamonds,

because it's the first time
that this value was on a display

in what looked like a
tent from the outside.

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

[intriguing music playing]

[Swini] We posed the
question, "Can they do it?"

I think that's just about
impossible to happen.

I thought it was
pretty impregnable.

The vault, which was
three feet thick,

with these metal
bars inside it...

It was strong
enough to withstand

the penetration of something
like an armored vehicle

trying to smash
through the side walls.

It was extremely well-built.

[Swini] He felt they
were secure in the vault,

but they were vulnerable when they
were gonna be taken from the vault.

He said they were about to be
taken to Tokyo for a few weeks.

This was clearly
of interest for us.

[g*n c*ck]

[device beeping]

[Jools] We knew that they had
the incentive and the bravado

to do high-risk
robbery on the streets.

Now, here was a chance where the
diamond was going to be transported

out of the Dome.

We were fairly confident that this was
where they were going to go for it.

- [rousing rock music playing]
- [g*n clicks]

[Tony] I was a specialist
firearms officer...

working within SO19.

We were the equivalent of
a... an American SWAT team.

When the Flying Squad know that
they're gonna be up against criminals

that are heavily armed,

they call us.

- [tense rhythmic music playing]
- [sirens wailing distantly]

[Tony] In August 2000, the
Flying Squad approached us

and said, "We anticipate that
a team of heavily-armed robbers

are gonna conduct a
robbery in transit."

"Help us out."

[Swini] We decided that we would escort
the security van containing the diamonds

from the Dome to
Heathrow Airport.

[tense music continues]

[Swini] I thought that the van was
gonna get stopped in slow-moving traffic

and a vehicle was going
to ram the back of it.

I thought that we were
going to see Gerty 3.

[Tony] So we had to look at ways in which
we could get through blocked traffic

quick enough to arrest them.

So I made the suggestion that we should
get hold of some military helicopters.

[thrilling music playing]

[Tony] Then we were in a position where
we could drop heavily-armed SWAT guys

wherever they were needed.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Tony] In addition to that,

we're gonna put unmarked,
discreet vehicles

in the front and back
of the security van.

[Swini] When they
tried to stop the van,

we would be waiting for them.

[tense string music playing]

[Swini] The security van
collected the diamonds.

As they came out of the Dome...

the follow started.

[music intensifies]

We had to be able to
follow it covertly.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Swini] Because if they saw us,

they'd just evaporate.

[helicopter blades whirring]

[Tony] We sat on the helicopters
with all our weapons.

Still didn't know where
they were gonna do it.

[Jools] We'd identified
that one of the weak points

would be the Blackwall Tunnel.

There were options there
for them to block the road.

[Swini] Everybody was in a
state of high trepidation.

We were listening for
anything that might be a clue

that something was
about to take place.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Jools] We went through
the Blackwall Tunnel.

Nothing was seen.

And then we wound our way through
the streets of East London.

[indistinct radio chatter]

And all of a sudden, you start to
feel a little bit more vulnerable.

[horns honking]

[Jools] If something were to happen,
I can't move, I can't get out,

because we're stuck in traffic.

[brakes squeaking]

[Swini] And then we
went into roadworks.

[tires screeching]

[officer on radio] All
units, stand by. Stand by.

[machine drilling]

[Swini] The level of
threat is increasing.

I felt this was the moment
that they were waiting for.

[machine continues drilling]

[Jools] But it comes to nothing.

[Swini] As we got
closer to Heathrow,

we reached a point where we
were in fast-moving traffic.

[indistinct radio chatter]

[Swini] And it became
less likely to happen.

Eventually, we get
to Heathrow Airport.

The diamonds were then
put safely on a plane.

And then they just went... That's it,
no show, the robbers haven't turned up.

[helicopter blades whirring]

[somber music playing]

[Jools] We came away from
there completely deflated.

We'd built ourselves
up thinking,

"This is where
it's gonna happen."

What has derailed this?

[Swini] Did they have inside information
as to when this was happening?

Is there a possibility
we could've been seen?

My biggest fear

was that if they'd have thought
the Flying Squad was in the ether,

they would've decided

not to go through with it,

and we would be back
to square zero again.

[Carol] There was monumental
pressure for various reasons.

The money that's spent on it, the time,
the resources that have gone into it.

There was a lot at stake

to get this right and
for it to be a success.

[Jools] The
surveillance continued.

For the first few
days after the convoy,

it all went quiet.

There was nothing
really to report.

[music fades]

[Jools] We started to think that
they've decided to forget their plans.

[phone ringing]

[Swini] But then

there is a phone call to me

from SO11.

They said,

"We've just seen a JCB
turn up at the farm."

[suspenseful music playing]

[Swini] Surveillance officers could hear
loud revving and driving of the JCB.

[motor rumbling]

[JCB mechanisms whirring]

[motor roaring]

[Swini] Ray Betson was there
when it was all happening,

and that obviously raised
the specter of "Why?"

[Jools] Then on one afternoon,

we were surveilling
Terry Millman.

He'd come out of Tong Farm,

and we followed him.

We ended up at a
store in South London

where he bought a Hilti g*n.

[Lee echoing] Hilti g*n is a nail
g*n that fires nails through steel.

[Jools] We were getting quite excited
because we knew exactly what a Hilti g*n

would be purchased for.

- [g*n loads]
- [loud bangs]

[Swini] Two days later,

I received a phone call
from our surveillance team

who says, "You're not going
to believe this, Swini."

"We've just seen a speedboat
turn up at the farm."

We'd had the speedboat used on
the initial robbery at Nine Elms.

It was used again as a
getaway vehicle at Aylesford.

So, we knew the job,
whatever it was gonna be,

was still on.

Then we see Lee Wenham
coming out of Tong Farm,

pulling the speedboat.

[Carol] We followed them all the
way down to Whitstable in Kent.

They parked up near the harbor.

And they got the boat out.

They were maneuvering around
the harbor in the boat.

[Jools] The guys were all
wearing cellophane gloves.

It was clearly a crude attempt

at trying not to leave behind
fingerprints on the boat.

They're doing something here
that's connected to the robbery.

[Swini] And then Lee Wenham
turned up at the Dome.

He was looking at the river.

The one common feature of this
g*ng is escape on a river.

The River Thames is
obviously an escape route.

So, it became obvious,
fairly quickly,

that they were gonna target the
actual vault inside the Dome.

[pensive music playing]

[Carol] It was just something
you couldn't comprehend.

You couldn't imagine that
anybody would attempt it.

[Jools] A job of that scale,

with that amount of risk,

was unprecedented.

[Swini] Now we knew where
it was going to happen.

The only thing that I don't know
is the "how" and the "when."

And the "how" and the "when"
is what kept me awake at night.

I couldn't switch off from it,

because I wasn't quite sure

what my enemy was thinking of.

[intense music playing]

[Swini] I'd get up at two
o'clock in the morning.

I'd go down to the
Dome and think,

"If I was gonna do it,

when would I want to do it?"

I wondered if they were gonna go
in in the middle of the night.

But at night, the vault
became impregnable.

[vault locks]

[Swini] And, ultimately, that meant
the only time they could do it

was when the vault was open.

[seagulls cawing]

And that would be when members of
the public were being admitted to it.

[Tony] From what we knew
about these robbers,

we knew that they were prepared to
sh**t at unarmed police officers.

So, members of the public
could have been in danger.

[Jools] The whole thing was
going to be extremely dangerous.

If we did catch them in the act,

you run serious risk of members
of the public being injured,

hostages being taken.

We needed to regroup,

think about our strategy,
think about our tactics,

the way we were going
to deal with this.

It was so high risk.

[tense music playing]

[Swini] The easiest thing would be for
me to get De Beers to remove the diamond.

That would have stopped the job.

But what it wouldn't have stopped
was them finding another target,

and on that target,

we may not be able to stop them, and
a member of the public gets k*lled.

So, the game plan was we
let them do the robbery.

But we had to safely put a
barrier between the suspects

and the members of the public
who might be in the vicinity.

The safest place is always going to
be in an area where they're contained,

which was in this
case the vault itself.

[Carol] If they could get them inside
the vault, they couldn't go anywhere.

So they couldn't cause any harm to anybody
as long as nobody else was in there.

[Swini] I had a meeting with
senior management of the Dome.

I was asked, "How can we guarantee
the safety of this operation?"

And our answer was that the
plans that we're drawing up

will ensure that there
will be nobody at risk.

And they said, "Stop thinking like a
policeman. Start thinking like a parent

whose child got shot during
a day trip to the Dome."

"How would you answer that?"

[Tony] The Flying Squad were saying,
"Look, there's going to be a robbery."

"We need to put 100 armed
officers into the Dome."

"Oh, by the way, we don't want
you to close down the thing."

"We want you to actually have
visitors coming in while we do it."

Even us, as seasoned
tactical people,

were saying, "This is never
gonna get off the ground."

[Swini] They wanted us
to sign responsibility

that it was our decision.

So, if anybody gets
injured in here,

the Flying Squad will be
held to account for this.

[Carol] If this goes badly,

it could have repercussions
for the Flying Squad

because there's a possibility
they could have been disbanded.

[Swini] We were dealing
with a lot of scrutiny.

So we had to get it right.

But even the best-laid
plan can go wrong.

[dramatic opera music playing]

[Neil] I'm sat in my office.

News editor comes in,

and he tells me

that the Millennium Dome...

is going to be robbed

of £300 million worth of jewels.

What?

[bright piano music playing]

[Neil] It must have been really
difficult inside the Flying Squad

to keep this secret.

But we had brilliant contacts,
and we'd found out about it.

That's what journalists do.

[piano music ends]

[line ringing]

[Neil] So I pick up the
phone to the Flying Squad

and break the very
bad news to them

that I knew all about their
top-secret, undercover operation.

[suspenseful music playing]

[Swini] My senior officer
called me on a Friday night.

His words to the effect were,
"I've got some bad news for you."

[Neil] They were
absolutely appalled

that I knew about it.

But what could they do? This
was their problem, not mine.

[Swini] We were so close
that we could taste it,

and my fear was that if we'd
lost it in the final hurdle,

we would never get
a second chance.

[Neil] They asked me simply
not to run the story,

and they would tell me
all about it afterwards.

I said, "No." I
wanted more than that.

I wanted to be
there for the bust.

Do a deal with me,

or see it all

melt away.

[Swini] If we stonewall this,

they could very, very
easy blow the operation.

[Neil] The deal was

that my reporter and photographer
would be first on the scene.

They would have full access to all
information about what had happened.

This was a big, f*ck
me, exciting story.

And it was gonna sell
a lot of newspapers.

[cash register dings]

[birds chirping]

[pensive music playing]

[Lee] We were all ready to go.

Everything was in position.

I was quite excited that
we were gonna get it.

It's weeks and weeks
and weeks of planning,

and lots and lots of money
invested in it as well.

But it got to a point
about three months into it,

when you start thinking,

"Are we being followed?
Are we being watched?"

You do start looking
over your shoulder.

You're thinking someone's watching
you, and it does make you a bit edgy.

[producer] Do you have
any coping mechanisms?

Cocaine. [laughing]

Fueled on that for a
bit, yeah. [laughs]

I just blocked it out.

Because you still
want the job to go on.

[radio tuning, static]

But f*ck it, let's
do it. [chuckles]

[pulsating electronic
music playing]

[camera shutters clicking]

[Swini] On the


the JCB was taken all the
way up to South-East London,

where it was placed in a coal yard that
was within visual sight of the Dome.

[boat motor roaring]

[Swini] The boat is then brought up
and taken to the far side of the river.

So we knew that the job
was on for the next day.

It was like, "Right, it's
happening. They're moving."

- We knew what they were going to do.
- [g*n c*ck]

[Carol] We just didn't know
how they were going to do it.

[Swini] I was convinced and reassured
that our plan would be effective,

that it would counter all
the "what if" contingencies.

But there's always
that niggling doubt...

that perhaps there's
something that I don't know.

Could we have it wrong?

[man on radio] Yeah, we've
got a visual. It's on camera.

[JCB motor roaring]

[gate crashes]

[JCB motor continues roaring]

[metallic crashing]

- [g*nshots]
- [people screaming]

[closing theme music playing]

[music fades to silence]