Socialite Tamara Ecclestone said she felt ‘violated’ after her mansion was ransacked of £25million in cash and gems in Britain’s biggest ever burglary.
Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24, Alessandro Maltese, 45, and Alessandro Donati, 44, have been jailed for a total of 28 years at Isleworth Crown Court after stealing £26million worth of cash, jewellery and gems from celebrity homes in Britain’s biggest ever burglary spree.
The raid also included the West London residence of Frank Lampard, former Chelsea manager, and Christine Lampard, his wife of 42 years, as well as a Knightsbridge home owned by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha (the deceased owner and operator Leicester City football club), who were both killed in an air crash in 2018.
Three of them admitted conspiring to burglarize the property earlier in this year at Isleworth Crown Court.
Jovanovic was convicted of conspiracy to finance money laundering. He pleaded guilty in an emergency before the trial began last month.
He pleaded guilty earlier to trying to convert criminal property at Harrods, specifically a “quantity of cash” on December 14, 2019.
Ms. Ecclestone is 37-year-old, daughter of Bernie Ecclestone. She was skiing with Jay Rutland as well as her family at the time that the raid occurred on December 13, 2019.
Kensington Palace Gardens, her home was so big that even security guards didn’t notice the burglars breaking through into the back yard.
They were left with money to burn and wasted it on lavish celebrations of their successes in West End shops and restaurants.
Ms Ecclestone spoke out in a victim impact report, which was read today for the first times.
“I’m scared so I won’t let my daughter go to bed alone. It’s because I do not trust people that I trust.
F1’s heiress claimed that she gets afraid in her own house.
“An example was Jay being in the bedroom. I could see a shadow near me when I was bathing my child and I freaked,” she stated.
‘I feel like [my daughter]She is starting to pick up my vibe, and won’t go to the bathroom without me. [being]Like a mummy, come along with me.
She also speaks about burglars, which can be really difficult and it’s hard to pretend that nothing ever happened and make the house feel like a safe place.
“Aside from the stuff that has gone missing, which some of it made me really sad because it’s stuff my mom and dad bought me, my Mum got me a present for my wedding.
“A lot was very personal. I wanted some of these items to go to my child one day, but other than that it has been difficult to continue as normal.
“It is strange that people were there like the ones on top of that jewellery cabinet with photos of my child and that they touched those things and gone in, it makes me feel like I have been violated.”
Jay said that he didn’t want me to return after the holiday. It was a strange sensation like trying to walk back the steps, with Jay to find if Jay can get to the window.
“The truth” [the burglars]were located behind the playhouse for my daughters in the backyard, as well as all of the other stuff [that]She really freaks out me.
Tamara Ecclestone, her husband Jay Rutland, an art gallery owner, was in Lapland on vacation with their daughter, 38, and their dog, when they were robbed of hundreds of valuable items from their Kensington mansion. It is thought to be the most expensive burglary in Britain.
According to her, she now obsesses over security and has gates made of spikes and barbed wire. She was considering moving into an apartment.
She added, “It’s just not how I want my life to be.”
According to Mr Rutland’s statement to the ocurt, “My daughter now talks about it semi-regularly even though we said that no burglars were actually able to get in.” Tamara and I are asked by her if they’re coming back.
‘I feel a combination of emotions: anger at them for stealing from us; fear that they will come back; sadness at losing sentimental pieces that were given as gifts to us at our wedding and at the birth our daughter.
“While I support my wife, it is extremely difficult for me see how it has affected her. It has made her more nervous.
Timothy Cray QC, the prosecution, stated earlier to the court, “The evidence proves that these were organised crime perpetrated by organised criminals.”
They flew to the UK in order to execute the plan and then acted as a team of disciplined officers, with each member having their part in the crime.
These men used anti-surveillance technology such as burner phone and rarely saw together in public where CCTV cameras would catch them.
Apart from a few relatively small value items, none of the £26million taken has been recovered.
Mr Cray said: ‘These crimes were organised: the thieves did not just happen to find their way to the target houses by chance and they did not just steal and launder £26million worth of property by luck.
“They struck these houses in only 13 days, between January and December 2013 and, by the 18th of December, most of those involved had fled the country with almost all the proceeds from the crime.
Jovanovic and Daniel Vukovic (an alleged accomplice), flew to the UK on November 30th, 2019, and stayed in the TLK Hotel and Apartments at Orpington in St Mary’s Cray.
Jovanovic carried out the £25million heist at Ms Ecclestone’s Kensington property (pictured) with expert jewel thieves Alessandro Maltese, 45, nicknamed the ‘Pink Panther’, and 44-year-old Alessandro Donati
They broke into the house Lampard (43), shares with Christine Lampard, his television presenter, and carried out their first raid.
Jovanovic called the front doorbell on December 1st to verify that the couple was out.
They broke into the garden wall, climbed a fence at the rear of the house, and forced the doors to the balcony.
When an alarm went off, they fled the scene with a Patek Philippe rose gold watch, Rolex rose gold watch, Mia Lia necklace, and white gold Patek Philippe wristlinks.
Frank Lampard, in his victim impact statement stated that the incident “had a significant impact on my general feelings of security and especially with having a baby 16 months old.”
“The fact my job involves frequent travel raises concerns. Christine and Chana have been affected. As a result of the incident, neither Christine nor myself are able to sleep well.
“I’d like to add that, while I’ve been a victim of crime before, especially burglary, this event has had an even greater effect on my life.”
The gang also took some £60,000 worth of watches and jewellery from the west London home of Chelsea FC legend Frank Lampard and his television presenter wife Christine (pictured here with Frank Lampard)
Christine Lampard, his wife, said that since the break-in, I have become much more afraid of living alone at home. She also stated that she is less comfortable with visitors and feels unsafe within her home.
“I now have a child and feel unsafe in my home, which I used to be happy and safe in.” Because I am very sensitive to outside noises fearing an attack, it has made me difficult to fall asleep at night.
Jovanovic, Vukovic, and their accomplice, Cash Convertors, Orpington, purchased a new phone and they went to Knightsbridge for some shoe shopping. They spent around 800 Euros on the shoes. A Harrods loyalty card was also opened by them, with a fake name.
More than a year ago, Mr Srivaddhanaprabha was tragically killed in an air crash that resulted in him being thrown from a helicopter. The Knightsbridge home where he lived in Walton Place was hit by the gang on the 10th of December.
They broke in through patio doors and managed to force open a safe escaping with £1million in property including seven Patek Philippe watches and 400,000 in euros.
The thieves also took a number of Thai Buddha pendants as well as a Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch from a table. One accomplice was still wearing it when he was taken into custody while trying to flee the UK.
In a statement to the court, Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s family stated that their late father’s home was a space of prayer and reflection. As he spent his last nights there, we believed it to be his strongest bond.
“Since the burglary our sacred and special relationship has been damaged, and violated beyond repair.”
On December 11, Jovanovic booked a table at Zuma Restaurant in Knightsbridge for five people and the bill came to £760.15.
They arrived at Ms Ecclestone’s home on the 13th of December. They had traveled to Finland from Lapland for Christmas.
Jovanovic was on duty as an observer at this moment.
Mr Cray stated, “Once they got in, the house was so big that the guards weren’t aware the burglars were there and didn’t realize what was happening until it was over.”
“The men entered through the back yard without the knowledge of the security guards.”
“Despite being disturbed by the guards at the end they managed to make their escape via a number of taxis back towards Orpington leaving behind two burner mobile phones.
Palace Green had security measures such as CCTV, monitored alarms and guards.
The property is located on a private road with extremely valuable properties. It includes the embassies in Russia, Israel and France as well as the residences of some very wealthy people.
On December 10, the gang entered the Knightsbridge house of Mr Srivaddhanaprabha (pictured), in Walton Place. This raid occurred more than one year after Mr. Srivaddhanaprabha was fatally injured in an air crash following a Leicester City match.
Security gates are manned and patrolled by both armed and non-armed officers.
“But it seems as though the burglars had been lucky in two major ways,” said Mr Cray.
“First they got to the backyard and had passed the boundary. The house was so big that the security guard couldn’t pick it up.
The second alarm was not activated because there were security guards present. There were also administrative tasks that they needed to perform, including making deliveries and receiving them, while the family was gone.
‘All this meant that once the burglars got past the monitors and cameras in the back garden, they had a large empty house to themselves and therefore they had the time and opportunity to steal £25million pounds worth of jewellery and cash.’
The burglars took almost 400 items of jewellery, 150 of which were valued at £8.4million. The value of the other 250 items is between £18million and £21million.
They stole watches to the value of £2million belonging to Ms Ecclestone and watches to the value of £400,000 belonging to Mr Rutland as well as £125,000 in sterling and 200,000 Hong Kong dollars, which is around £20,000.
Maria Mester, her accomplice in the robbery of the property’s jewelery was found wearing the same earrings as the necklace she stole.
Jovanovic made his way to Harrods and tried to spend £8,985 in cash on Louis Vuitton clothing but the transactions were declined.
Jovanovic flew to Milan from London City Airport on December 18th.
According to Mr Cray, ‘When he flew from London city airport it seems that he dyed hair bleach blonde in an effort to change his look’.
Jovanovic was taken into custody by the armed police who stormed a villa on the seaside near Rome in October last year. He was then extradited to Britain almost six months later, April 2.
Mr Bean, a British comedy series is loved by the master criminal.
On his Facebook page, he has two photos of Rowan Atkinson. One shows Mr Bean in an armchair perched on the roof of a Mini yellow.
Donati wore a green Armani EA7 Tracksuit to court, Maltese a black sweatshirt, and Jovanovic a grey tracksuit.
Jovanovic, who has no address fixed, confessed to conspiring to Burgle between November 30, 2019 – February 1, 2020 to try to convert criminal properties and to scheme to launder money between November 30, 2020 – February 1, 2020.
Maltese, Donati and Donati both admitted to conspiring to Burgle.
Maria Mester, 47-year-old Romanian sex worker and Emile Bogdan Savastru (29 year old barman) were cleared by a jury in January of this year. Also, Sorin Marcovici AKA The Professor, 52, and Alexandru Stan 49, a hotel worker and security worker, were all found guilty of conspiring to burgle.