Then, it could transport them at speed by the quickest route."The gang was fitted with gas masks and body armour and armed with smoke grenades, two-and-a-half pints of ammonia to spray into people's faces, sledgehammers, wire cutters, a nail gun, and top specification radio and scanning equipment to eavesdrop on the police, the jury heard.Once they had smashed their way into the diamond cabinet and snatched the gems. the gang planned to drive the digger to the nearby Queen Elizabeth pier where Mr Meredith, a charter skipper, was waiting in a speed boat capable of 55mph, it was alleged. Like the men on the JCB, he was arrested at the scene.On the opposite side of the river was a man called Terry Millman, 56, who was waiting in another getaway van at the other side. The robbers had even obtained roadworks signs around the getaway van to allay suspicion as it waited for the arrival of the boat.

Mr Millman was arrested but died from natural causes before the trial. The police suspect that there may have been a third getaway vehicle to switch from the van, but nothing was found.Mr Taylor, a horse dealer, was not at the crime scene on the day of the heist but he helped in the planning of the operation, the court heard. The meticulous care in which the gang prepared for the job included two practice, or "dry", runs and extensive surveillance work, it was claimed.But, all the time, unbeknown to the alleged gang members, the police were watching and waiting for them to strike."It was a remarkable police operation. But for their intervention they [the gang] would have got away with £200m worth of diamonds," said Mr Hislop.Acting on intelligence that someone may be planning to steal the diamonds, the Metropolitan Police set up an intensive surveillance operation, including secretly watching two farms in Kent and a disused coalyard in south-east London.Detectives watched as a number of stolen cars, the JCB, and two speedboats were hidden at the three sites, it was claimed.Extra security measures were put in place at the Dome, including the deployment of undercover officers inside the exhibition centre and extra monitoring of the fixed surveillance cameras.The jury will later be shown footage of the digger crashing into the Dome and the undercover officers leaping to action."Cockran, Betson, Ciarrocchi and Adams were all caught red-handed at the scene with the JCB in the Dome having launched their attack and smashed their way in. Meredith was the speedboat driver caught on the boat waiting," said Mr Hislop The trial continues.. The German government came to the brink of collapse yesterday when Joschka Fischer, the Foreign Minister, threatened to resign over his Green party's reluctance to support the country's first combat mission since the Second World War. The German government came to the brink of collapse yesterday when Joschka Fischer, the Foreign Minister, threatened to resign over his Green party's reluctance to support the country's first combat mission since the Second World War. A stormy meeting of the Greens was adjourned for a second time, with 15 MPs still refusing to endorse their government's decision to dispatch up to 3,900 troops to the war zone.

At least two Social Democrat MPs belonging to Chancellor Gerhard Schr?'s party are also planning to vote against the deployment next week.The bill authorising the deployment is almost certain to go through because two of the three opposition parties have pledged their support. But the government may not muster the necessary majority from its own ranks for what is regarded in Germany is the most important decision for a generation. Failure to whip in line its own MPs would damage its prestige at home and Germany's standing abroad."The contribution we want to make is also an expression of our readiness to take account of Germany's increased responsibility in the world," Mr Schr? told the Bundestag.Mr Fischer is reported to have told colleagues that he will step down if he does not get the Greens' wholehearted support. That would probably be the end of the "Red-Green" coalition, which keeps Mr Schr? in power. Leaving the government could spell political suicide for the Greens, who are struggling in opinion polls at about five percent, the threshold for parties to achieve parliamentary representation.Aware that the majority of Germans oppose the deployment of their troops in Afghan-istan, the Chancellor and his Foreign Minister used yesterday's parliamentary debate to try to sweeten the pill.