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The Diamond Heist is a three-part documentary that examines the 2000 Millennium Dome raid in London. During the raid, a group of South-East London criminals attempted to steal £350 million (approx. $860 million now, taking inflation into account) worth of diamonds, including the flawless 203.04-carat Millennium Star.
The group — Lee Wenham, Raymond Betson, William Cockram, Terry Millman, and others — planned on using a bulldozer to ram the Dome, grabbing the gems, and escaping by speedboat down the Thames. Police surveillance, led by the Flying Squad, foiled the heist. The series features interviews with criminals and law enforcement alike, showing both sides of the intense operation.
The official synopsis of The Diamond Heist on Netflix reads:
"This stranger-than-fiction crime caper follows the attempted robbery of a precious gem, told by the gangsters who did it and the police on their tail."
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Directed by Jesse Vile and executive produced by Guy Ritchie, The Diamond Heist will premiere on Netflix on April 16, 2025.
All about Netflix's The Diamond Heist
As mentioned above, The Diamond Heist is a three-part Netflix documentary series exploring the attempted robbery of £350 million (approx. $860 million now) diamonds from London’s Millennium Dome in 2000.
The series is directed by Jesse Vile and executive produced by Guy Ritchie. It details the planning and failure of the bold heist and features interviews with the criminals and the Flying Squad police who stopped them. It uses surveillance footage and firsthand accounts to show how the plan unfolded and why it collapsed.
The criminals behind the Millennium Dome raid were a group of experienced South-East London robbers, including Lee Wenham, Raymond Betson, William Cockram, and Terry Millman, among others. The group spent months studying the Dome’s layout, noting its weak security.
They planned to use a stolen JCB bulldozer to smash into the De Beers diamond exhibit, grab gems like the 203.04-carat Millennium Star, and escape via speedboat down the Thames. They wore body armor, and gas masks, and carried smoke bombs, nail guns, and sledgehammers to break the display’s glass.
The gang prepared carefully, storing equipment at a yard in Plumstead and farms in Kent. Millman, who died of cancer before the trial, bought a speedboat for the getaway using cash and under a fake name. They scouted the Dome multiple times, filming the exhibit and timing their visits with high tides for the escape.
However, Kent Police had them under surveillance from previous abandoned robbery attempts, and the Flying Squad’s Operation Magician, involving 200 officers, was ready to apprehend them. On November 7, 2000, the raid failed as police, disguised as staff, arrested the gang before they could take the diamonds, which had been swapped for fakes.
Who is Lee Wenham, and what happened to him?
Lee Wenham was born into a traveling family in South-East London with a history of criminal activity. Growing up, he had difficulty reading and writing and preferred working with machines to school. From a young age, he got involved in crime, specializing in ram raids and armed robberies using stolen heavy equipment.
By 17, he owned a flashy car, living a fast life with expensive clothes and connections to London’s underworld. In 2000, he helped plan the Millennium Dome heist, aiming to steal £350 million (approx. $860 million now) in diamonds, but police caught the gang before they succeeded. Wenham said that he saw the heist as a chance to gain prestige in the underworld.
After serving time in prison, Wenham left behind his life of crime. He now lives a quieter life as a family man and runs a landscaping business, He has nine grandchildren and shares his story to warn others, including his family, that crime doesn't pay. His memoir, A Diamond Geezer: The Story Behind Britain's Biggest Robbery, and The Diamond Heist are both slated to release in 2025.
Watch The Diamond Heist on Netflix releasing on April 16, 2025.
