Pink diamonds have long been cloaked in mystery and intrigue, with many unanswered questions adding to the allure of these beautiful natural wonders.
Why are pink diamonds so rare? What causes the distinct and enchanting colour in these diamonds? Are there any deposits, hidden deep beneath the surface of the Earth, still waiting to be discovered?
Following the closure of the Argyle Mine in 2020, the market around these scarce diamonds changed dramatically. With the supply of the world’s finest pinks exhausted, consumer interest skyrocketed.
The intrigue around pink diamonds has been amplified in recent years by the resurfacing of a legendary tale that began in the 1980s. It’s a story dominated by the themes that captivate audiences – conspiracy, crime, sex, money, and beautiful diamonds – beginning at the Argyle Mine and spreading to exotic locations around the world.
These stories stand the test of time because they tap into primal emotions – curiosity, excitement, and suspense – in a way not dissimilar to jewellery’s role as a symbol of love and personal identity.
A five-part podcast series was released by the ABC in 2022 – Expanse: Pink Diamonds Heist – produced by Sarah Allely and presented by Sinead Mangan. It featured many previously unknown details of a pink diamond scandal from the 1980s and was well received by critics and listeners around the country.
It’s been confirmed that this podcast will be adapted into a television series, which, if well executed, will only add to the aura and mystique of pink diamonds.
Above all else, this story is a poignant reminder of the exhaustive lengths people are willing to go to possess these natural wonders.
On one hand, mining companies such as Rio Tinto are willing to dig miles beneath the surface of the Earth to find pink diamonds. At the same time, cunning thieves are willing to risk significant jail sentences for a chance to possess these scarce beauties.
| TABLE 1: COLOUR BREAKDOWN - TOTAL STONES MINED |  |
 |
Sources: Jeweller analysis, Leibish. Based on 865 million carats total production. Percentages are approximate and extrapolated from publicly available information. Less than 0.1 per cent of the Argyle production is pink, red and violet diamonds.
|
| TABLE 2 + CHART 1: COLOUR BREAKDOWN - TENDER STONES |
 |
| Sources: Jeweller analysis, GIA, Leibish. Based on 1,990 total stones tendered between 1985 and 2020. Figures are approximate and exclude Petite Suites and Pink Everlastings. |
What happened?
The story begins with the opening of the Argyle Mine in the remote East Kimberley region of Western Australia in 1985.
At the peak of its powers, the Argyle Mine was the world’s largest diamond producer by volume and provided around 90 per cent of the global supply of pink diamonds. Barry Crimmins, a former Victoria Police officer, was hired to work security at the Argyle Mine.
Two years later, the sale of the Hancock Red at a Christie’s auction in New York generated international headlines. The 0.95-carat purple-red fancy colour diamond returned $USD880,000 in April 1987, stunning collectors and setting auction records.
This auction was a source of fascination to Lindsay Roddan, a horse trainer based in Perth who was friends with Barry Crimmins.
Scouring various media reports, Roddan was clearly a ‘larger-than-life’ character – most notably for his seemingly endless connections in law enforcement and the criminal underworld.
The pair had a mutual love for German Shepherds and had been friends since around 1980. This auction would be the genesis of a conspiracy to steal diamonds valued at millions of dollars.
Roddan, knowing that Crimmins was employed at the Argyle Mine, began to pester him about the possibility of stealing diamonds.
These advances were reportedly rebuffed several times; however, one year later, Crimmins stumbled across some significant holes in security protocol at the site.
The temptation to ‘get rich quick’ proved too strong. As noted by media reports, the weak point was the time between the diamonds being sorted, weighed, and registered in a computer system.
The diamonds were vulnerable until they registered!
Furthermore, as head of security, Crimmins had unquestioned access to the sorting areas and was familiar with the surveillance camera system.
The ABC podcast details an initial theft that unfolded without issue. Crimmins soon noticed that as diamonds moved along the conveyor belt during the process, many would fall onto the floor.
During court proceedings, he explained that calling a security officer was a requirement whenever a spillage occurred.
When this happened, Crimmins would pocket some of the diamonds, instead of returning them to the conveyor belt. He admitted to using this method for around a year.
A Tender Glance: Some of Argyle's Treasures
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 3.14 CARATS | 2.34 CARATS | 2.28 CARATS | 2.24 CARATS | 2.01 CARATS | 2.00 CARATS |
| Argyle Alpha | Kimberley Rose | Argyle Muse | Argyle Eternity | Hidden Princess | Argyle Amour |
2018 Tender
Won by Glajz | 2018 Tender
Won by Leibish | 2018 Tender
Won by Glajz | 2020 Tender
Won by Kunming | 2003 Tender
Won by LJ West | 2009 Tender
Won by Glajz |
Would you like to buy some pink diamonds?
Securing the diamonds was the first challenge; the next was moving them from the Argyle Mine to Perth undetected. Crimmins reportedly experimented with various methods, concealing the diamonds in his carry-on luggage.
This included stashing them in a tube of toothpaste.
Crimmins and Roddan would meet at dog shows, coffee shops, and car parks and exchange diamonds for cash. During these exchanges, Roddan would supposedly badger Crimmins to focus on finding pink diamonds.
At this stage, a third conspirator entered the story in a fluke occurrence. Lynette Crimmins, wife of Barry Crimmins, returned home from work unexpectedly early one day.
She discovered her husband in the kitchen, hovering over the kitchen sink and crudely washing diamonds.
In the podcast, she says that at first, she was shocked; however, the temptation and allure of the diamonds were overpowering.
Lynette Crimmins worked in sales at the time, distributing beauty products to retailers around Perth, and she asked to join the scheme as a middleman.
At first, she acted as a conduit between Roddan and her husband, minimising their public interactions.
Her role would soon expand, as a significant aspect of her job involved meeting with pharmacists.
This presented an opportunity to offer these stolen diamonds directly to wealthy professionals.
Something isn’t right at the Argyle Mine
It’s difficult to determine precisely when executives at the Argyle Mine began to suspect foul play; however, it was clear that something wasn’t right by 1989.
According to one source, suspicions began to rise as early as 1987, the year the theft began. The Argyle Mine’s chief of security, Richard Corfield, a former Scotland Yard police officer, received a phone call about mysterious pink diamonds surfacing in Antwerp.
Two years later, Corfield heard a report of a South African jeweller opening a new diamond workshop in Perth and decided to visit. The jeweller said he had some diamonds from Switzerland; however, Argyle dust was visible when an envelope was emptied.
It’s important to note that diamonds at the Argyle Mine were acid-washed on-site; however, these stones were unclean.
The jeweller supposedly informed Corfield that they had been delivered to the workshop by a familiar face - Lindsay Roddan.
Corfield took a sample to the Argyle Mine for testing. In a brazen move, Roddan called the jeweller shortly after the workshop visit, demanding to know why the diamonds were taken.
The testing proved that they were Argyle stones, and a police investigation into the alleged theft commenced in late 1989 following a report from Corfield.
 |  |
| An entire year’s production of polished Argyle Pink Diamonds that weighed over one carat could fit in the palm of your hand. | Argyle Pink Diamonds | The diagram below shows the locations of Australia’s three diamond mines. The Argyle Diamond Mine ceased operations in 2020. |
Who watches the watchmen?
The handling of this matter by the Western Australia Police Force is long and complex – worthy of a story on its own. Three investigations occurred between 1989 and 1996, each marred with controversy.
The Kennedy Royal Commission was established in 2002 to investigate whether Western Australian Police had engaged in corrupt and criminal conduct.
This report details the circumstances of the investigation into the theft at the Argyle Mine at great length.
While these fascinating details make for excellent bedtime reading, they are too complex to detail in this report. With that said, there are some important details to note.
During the initial investigation, police asked Corfield to identify an employee involved in operational security at the Argyle Mine who could be trusted to assist with the case.
The person identified was Barry Crimmins – the man responsible for the theft! Crimmins was given a briefing by Corfield, which included being told that the principal suspect was Roddan.
Crimmins did not reveal that he knew Roddan and was placed in a position where he could obtain valuable information about the investigation.
Police began monitoring Roddan’s movements in and out of Australia, and determined he was selling diamonds to Switzerland’s Theodore Horowitz.
Remember the Hancock Red, the fancy colour diamond that shattered records and kickstarted the conspiracy to steal from the Argyle Mine?
It was Horowitz who purchased that diamond in 1987!
Reports detail the investigation of a pink diamond donated by Horowitz to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA). The invoice listed the diamond’s origin as Bow River in South Africa.
Bow River is located in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia and is not far from Lake Argyle.
Media reports note that investigators accused Emmanuel Fritsch, a research scientist at GIA, of being involved in the scheme, which he denied.
The initial investigation was shuttered before the end of 1990, despite what would seem to be significant circumstantial evidence.
A second police investigation began in 1992; however, this was also marred by controversy.
The details are addressed at length in the Kennedy Royal Commission.
It was alleged that the officer in charge, Senior Sergeant Jeffrey Noye, formed a corrupt relationship with Roddan.
“The allegations regarding Noye became the subject of charges, including conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, that were preferred against him and Roddan,” the report reveals.
“Those charges were the subject of a lengthy preliminary hearing that resulted in both men being committed for trial. However, the charges were discontinued by the Crown prior to the trial.
“This left at least the perception that there had not been a conclusive determination of the allegation that there was a corrupt relationship between Roddan and Noye.
“There were also concerns expressed about the circumstances of the discontinuation of the charges brought against them.”
 |  |  |
| The Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia (mining.com) | Some of the recovered stolen diamonds (ABC News) | The Argyle Mine closed in 2020 (International Mining) |
 |  |  |
| Lindsay Roddan (left) leaving court in the 1990s (ABC News) | Richard Corfield (right) speaking to journalists (ABC News) | A court room sketch of Barry Crimmins (ABC News) |
Lovers quarrel burns down the house
After the failure of two investigations, this dramatic conspiracy collapsed in 1993 after yet another unlikely fluke occurrence.
A drunken fight between two lovers - Lynette Crimmins and Lindsay Roddan – would end it all.
In a drunken state, Lynette Crimmins broke a window and crawled into Lindsay Roddan’s house, injuring herself and demanding the repayment of money she had loaned him.
The police were called and Crimmins fessed up to her role in the pink diamond heist.
Lynette Crimmins admitted to her involvement in the sale of stolen Argyle diamonds and implicated Lindsay Roddan and Barry Crimmins in the theft.
According to one media report, she admitted to passing around 240 rough diamonds to Roddan during secret exchanges and made allegations about corrupt relationships between Roddan and various police officers.
“She spilled the whole message, which was probably the best thing that ever happened to the Argyle inquiry because she knew a lot of real, real lot,” Corfield told the ABC.
Many of these allegations were detailed in a special Four Corners episode in May 1995.
The Forensic Behavioural Investigative Services would later complete a review of the previous investigations on behalf of the Argyle Mine.
Unsurprisingly, that report concluded that many matters had not been adequately investigated.
Despite this, the Kennedy Royal Commission concluded that there was insufficient evidence of corrupt police attempts to terminate the Argyle investigation.
“There are lessons to be learnt from the history of the Argyle investigations. Some of those lessons are still to be fully understood and absorbed,” the report details.
“The persistence of corruption allegations and the negative consequences of these on the public perception of WAPS are, very significantly, the result of management failures.
“A great deal of the trauma that has been experienced over almost 13 years might have been avoided if allegations of corruption had been investigated and resolved at an early stage.”
Is this only the beginning?
In many ways, this marked the end of the conspiracy to steal pink diamonds from the Argyle Mine. Barry and Lynette Crimmins pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal Argyle diamonds. Barry was sentenced to four years in prison, and Lynette was released on probation.
Lindsay Roddan pleaded not guilty to three charges of conspiracy to steal and maintained his innocence. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment in 1996, which was reduced to three years for time served in custody.
Operations at the Argyle Mine ceased in November 2020 after 37 years, during which time more than 800 million carats of rough were produced.
With that said, many unanswered questions still linger around this legendary tale of conspiracy and corruption. The biggest of them all is obvious: What happened to all those stolen diamonds?
The ABC report details a frustrating campaign by former Victorian police commissioner Kel Glare to locate the diamonds in Europe. Glare spoke with diamond merchants in Antwerp, Geneva, London and Paris; however, it soon became apparent that these dealers were happy to be ‘left in the dark’ about the possibility of stolen stones.
Many missing pinks are believed to be in Australia. The ABC spoke with renowned expert John Chapman of Delta Diamond Laboratory. Chapman explained that for some time, the Argyle Mine would only inscribe diamonds above half a carat.
He often encounters ‘mystery’ pink diamonds without an inscription in Perth and suspects that they belong to the stolen collection. Geologist and chemical scientist John Watling, also based in Perth, provides a similar account.
Expanse: Pink Diamonds Heist concludes with one final unresolved mystery which involves the confession of Barry Crimmins.
According to court records, Lynette informed Barry in early 1993 that she had confessed to the police. Crimmins supposedly pondered this for a few months before following a similar path and calling investigators while on holiday in Queensland.
Crimmins arranged to meet with Perth Police in Cunnanara, a town in far northern Western Australia, around a 30-hour drive from where he made the phone call in Queensland.
“Why would Barry travel so far to the actual scene of the crime just in order to confess?” the podcast concludes.
“There’s a theory that Barry Crimmins had a stash of stolen Argyle diamonds somewhere in the bush.
“We’ve tried to put this allegation to him, but he’s not picking up our calls anymore. When we reviewed timelines and court documents with a fine-tooth comb, it raised even more questions because there were contradictions.
“If the rumour of the stash in the bush is true, and it’s only a rumour, then I wonder if there’s any of the Argyle diamonds left out bush?”
A Tender Glance: More of Argyle's Treasures
 |  |  |  |  |  |
| 1.56 CARATS | 1.21 CARATS | 1.20 CARATS | 1.04 CARATS | 0.67 CARATS | 0.33 CARATS |
| Argyle Phoenix | Argyle Cardinal | Argyle Prima | Red Valentine | Lot 56 | Mondial Red |
2013 Tender
Won by Glajz | 2014 Tender
Won by Glenn Bakker | 2015 Tender
Won by Sciens Diamond Management | 2009 Tender
Won by Calleija | 2018 Tender
Won by RR Diamonds | 2014 Tender
Won by Mondial Pink Diamond Atelier |
Coming soon
It’s been confirmed that Decade Films will partner with Factor 30 Films to create a true crime drama series - Pink Diamond Heist – based on the ABC podcast.
Producer Ray Quint of Decade Films said it was a uniquely Australian story worth retelling.
“We are thrilled to be working with Factor 30 and Sinéad to bring this captivating, stranger than fiction true story to the screen,” he said.
“With events that span from the rugged East Kimberley to the glitzy veneer of 1980s Perth to the backrooms of Swiss diamond traders, Pink Diamond Heist is a darkly humorous crime drama that is distinctively Australian in flavour and global in appeal.”
This story is another reminder that people will go to remarkable lengths to acquire pink diamonds. Hopefully, this television series will be a worthy instalment into the ever-expanding mythology of pink diamonds.
VIEW SHOW & TELL