Four men were today found guilty of plotting to rob £200 million sterling worth of diamonds from the Millennium Dome in London.
A jury at the Old Bailey in London cleared a fifth man of the robbery charge but found him guilty of conspiracy to steal the diamonds. The jury reached majority verdicts against the defendants after deliberating for nearly seven days.
They found Aldo Ciarrocchi (32) of Balaclava Road, Bermondsey, south east London; Raymond Betson (40) of Chatham, Kent; William Cockram (49) from Catford, south east London; and Robert Adams (57), of no fixed address, guilty of conspiracy to rob.
The court handed out two sentences of 15 years to Adams and Ciarrocchi, while Betson and Cockram each received 18 years in prison.
A fifth man, Kevin Meredith (34) of Aucklands Drive, Brighton, was cleared of conspiracy to rob but convicted of conspiracy to steal. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
The prosecution alleged the gang intended to snatch the stones on November 7, 2000, by smashing their way into the Dome on an earthmover and escape across the River Thames by a speedboat.
They ram-raided their way into the Thames-side tourist attraction on a JCB earthmover but were caught by armed police inches away from seizing jewels from the De Beers diamond exhibition.
The Millennium Star and the eleven Millennium Blue Diamonds - ranked among the finest diamonds in the world - had attracted thousands of visitors to the exhibition.
But the real jewels had been swopped with fakes after a police tip-off. The raid was foiled by the Flying Squad, backed up by armed police.
PA