At trial at the Old Bailey in London in 2007, five people were convicted, and received long sentences, including the inside man, Emir Hysenaj.

It operated non-stop with 80 full-time staff split across three shifts; most of the work was sorting and counting banknotes which arrived by armoured transport and were sent out again to restock cash machines.

He had been told that if he was ever stopped by the police when driving that he should stay in his car and give the officers a piece of paper describing his job, then follow them to the nearest station, where he would co-operate with their enquiries.

Men later convicted of conspiracy included Paul Allen, Jetmir Buçpapa, Roger Coutts, Emir Hysenaj, Lee Murray, Stuart Royle and Lea Rusha.

[2]: 82  Murray visited a surveillance shop in Derbyshire to buy a spy camera and recording device, with the intention of giving it to Hysenaj.

Allen had broken the speed limit while driving on an expired provisional licence, and was in a car he did not own which had no MOT and no insurance, so it was impounded by the police.

[2]: 87–89 Several days before the robbery, Murray went clubbing in London and crashed his yellow Ferrari 360 Modena sports car on the New Kent Road the next morning.

When he had abandoned his car he left behind two burner phones containing numbers of other gang members and three photographs from the club, which showed him associating with Allen and Patterson.

[2]: 83 In the early evening of Tuesday, 21 February 2006, Dixon was driving home along the A249 when he was pulled over just outside Stockbury, a village northeast of Maidstone, by what he presumed was an unmarked police car.

The Volvo S60 had flashing blue lights in its grille and one of the two uniformed officers came to Dixon's window, asking him to turn off his engine and leave the keys in the ignition.

[2]: 144–145  The entire robbery was filmed on the building's CCTV and when Kent Police later reviewed the footage, they nicknamed this gang member "Policeman".

"Policeman" subdued the operator and, without being asked, Dixon pressed the button which opened the gate and allowed the vehicles to enter the yard.

[2]: 151  The seven members of the gang attempted to load metal cages full of banknotes into the lorry and found they were too heavy,[6] so one criminal tried to drive the Lansing Linde power lifter and the rest shoved the hostages out of the way.

It was difficult to manoeuvre the lifter and a Securitas worker was ordered to drive it; when he kept deliberately crashing it, Dixon was told to use a pallet mover.

[2]: 155–157  When Dixon pumped the pallet mover up, "Hoodie" became suspicious and pointed a gun at his head; frustrated by the slow progress, the other gang members grabbed bundles of money in their hands and filled up shopping trolleys.

[12] As news of the robbery reached the newspapers, Hysenaj was told he had the day off work and went to see the Levellers at the Assembly Hall Theatre in Royal Tunbridge Wells with his girlfriend.

[2]: 172, 205–206 A white Ford Transit van owned by a friend of Buçpapa and Rusha was reported to be in the car park of the Ashford International Hotel.

At Rusha's house in Lambersart Close in Southborough, police found surveillance footage of Dixon's home, weapons and plans of the depot.

[2]: 211  On Sunday afternoon, Kent Police arrested Stuart Royle and another man in Tankerton, between Whitstable and Herne Bay, after shooting out a tyre of the BMW car he was driving.

[2]: 222  The following day, the white 7.5 tonne lorry which had transported the loot was located at a hire centre and Elderden Farm was searched.

[3] The trial of eight people, including Jetmir Buçpapa, Roger Coutts, Emir Hysenaj, Stuart Royle and Lea Rusha, began on 26 June 2007 at the Old Bailey in London.

[2]: 308–310 The role of manager Colin Dixon was examined, the defence barristers highlighting "co-incidences" in his conduct which might be interpreted as suggesting he was the inside man.

It was noted that he had breached regulations in several ways: he possessed two keys for the vault, when he was supposed to only have one; he had taken photographs of the depot and its workers, which were found on his computer at home; he had told CCTV engineers to postpone a visit; he had waited thirty minutes before raising the alarm after the robbers had departed, despite knowing that if they had left there was no way for them to get back inside.

[2]: 161 [3] During the trial, a woman who had made prosthetic disguises for the gang decided to turn Queen's evidence in return for her charges being dropped.

[2]: 405  Allen was held on remand in the high-security HM Prison Belmarsh and driven to court escorted by a police helicopter which cost £30,000 a day.

[2]: 433, 437 [16] Kent Police Detective Superintendent Mick Judge said "I'm pleased Murray will now begin serving a significant prison sentence for his part in the Tonbridge robbery.

The police believed he had worn a disguise when taking Dixon hostage, and that he was the person dubbed "Stopwatch" caught on CCTV directing the robbers to move as quickly as possible at the depot.

[8] Howard Sounes published a book about the crime in 2009, entitled Heist: The True Story of the World's Biggest Cash Robbery.

[7] Several people escaped capture and were suspected by police to be living off the proceeds of the crime in the West Indies and Northern Cyprus.

[2]: 296, 436 [7][8] In February 2013 Malcolm Constable, who was believed by his brother Derek to be associated with the robbery, was found dead of a self-inflicted shotgun wound in Canterbury.