Robbers Jailed For London Diamond Heist

A judge praised security guards who grabbed shovels being used for road works and used them to fight a gang of armed raiders during a diamond heist in London last year.

Jailing three of the robbers for nine years, Old Bailey Judge Christopher Moss said: "This was a professional crime, carefully and brutally executed."

Judge Moss praised what he described as acts of "great bravery" after hearing of a policewoman who was threatened with a gun after chasing one of the robbers and a security guard who continued to sit on a robber despite having two guns pointed at him.

Londoners Justin Philip, 25, David Mayer, 21, and Sherome Blair, 22, admitted robbery at an earlier hearing and were appearing for sentencing.

The court was told that the rest of the gang escaped after grabbing £263,000 worth of diamonds from the Ace of Diamonds shop in Greville Street, Hatton Garden in June last year. None of the gems was recovered.

Prosecutor Nina Crinnion said 12 men dressed in helmets pulled up on six high-powered motorbikes. Some pushed their way inside the shop and stole a tray of gems being shown to a doctor and a nurse.

But outside, security guards were grappling with other gang members trying to break security glass windows with sledgehammers. "A ferocious robbery took place. It was almost like a military operation," Crinnion said.

Security guards had picked up shovels being used for road works and battled the robbers. One of them pulled Philip to the ground and sat on him despite having a shotgun and a handgun pointed at him, said Crinnion.

Meanwhile, a female police officer chased after Mayer who stopped and pointed a gun at her. It was only after she ordered him to put it down and she arrested him that she discovered the gun was an imitation.

Lawyers for the three robbers said in mitigation the robbers had used sledgehammers during the robbery and not firearms.