Three men jailed for stealing £26m from celebrity homes in Britain’s biggest ever burglary spree

Police believe the gang members are part of a far bigger criminal network, Juliet Bremner reports

Three men have been jailed for stealing £26 million worth of cash, jewellery and gems from celebrity homes in Britain's biggest burglary spree.

Italian nationals Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24, Alessandro Maltese, 45, and Alessandro Donati, 44, were behind three raids in west London over just 13 days in December 2019.

Former Chelsea FC manager Frank Lampard, 43, his 42-year-old television presenter wife Christine, socialite Tamara Ecclestone and the late Leicester City FC owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha were among those targeted in the raids.

The Lampards had around £60,000 in watches and jewellery stolen while they were out of their Chelsea property on December 1.

Ms Ecclestone, 37, the daughter of ex-Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, was on holiday in Lapland with her husband and daughter when their mansion in Kensington was raided on December 13.

Hundreds of items of jewellery, cash, diamonds and precious stones worth £25 million were stolen from the 2,000 square-foot, six-floor property, in what is believed to have been the country’s biggest ever domestic burglary.

Police said the gang are believed to have carried out similar crimes against high-profile victims across Europe and had planned to carry out further raids on the rich and famous in the UK.

Detectives have not revealed the identities of other potential victims, who did not know how close they came to being burgled as the thieves carried out dummy runs.

Jovanovic, Maltese and Donati were extradited from Italy and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle between November 29 and December 18 2019 over the three raids.

Jovanovic also admitted conspiracy to commit money laundering between December 10 2019 and January 31 last year, and one count of attempting to convert criminal property.

He was jailed for 11 years by Judge Martin Edmunds QC at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, while Maltese and Donati were each sentenced to eight years and nine months in prison.

The men, who were brought to court under armed police guard, will return to Italy to serve their sentences following proceeds of crime proceedings in the UK.

The judge told them: “The fact that each burglary was accomplished despite the precautions of the householders, that so much was stolen and then, it is to be inferred, removed from the country and not recovered speaks to the overall organisation, planning and criminal determination, together with a willingness to take chances.

“You did so in the hope of substantial gain for yourselves but regardless of the loss to those people – not only of objects of financial value but of objects of deep personal significance and of the sense of safety and security that anyone is entitled to feel in their own home.”

“There have been life-changing effects on the victim’s own sense of safety," the judge added.

A fourth member of the gang, Daniel Vukovic, 44, believed to be a Serbian national who uses a string of aliases, fled to the capital Belgrade, where he is still thought to be following a failed extradition bid.

Prosecutor Timothy Cray QC said he was “the prime mover in organising the team in the UK” which “planned and executed the highest value burglaries that have ever come to light” in the country.

Only a handful of items have been recovered with the rest of the £26 million worth of loot believed to have been taken abroad.

“It’s buried treasure somewhere, globally,” said the Met’s Detective Constable Andrew Payne.

“The plots are comparable to what you would see in a Hollywood movie but unfortunately this was real life, involving real victims who have suffered greatly by their actions.”

On December 10, the gang targeted Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s Knightsbridge home, which had been turned into a shrine by his family following his death, aged 60, in a helicopter crash shortly after take-off from the King Power Stadium on October 27 2018.

Among more than £1 million in property stolen was a TAG Heuer watch he was wearing before he left for Leicester that day.

The burglars even popped a £500 bottle of Cristal champagne to drink as they carried out the raid and later celebrated with a £760 sushi meal in Knightsbridge restaurant Zuma.

On the way to the final £25 million burglary, Maltese stole a packet of chewing gum from a kiosk at Victoria station as the gang stopped to buy coffee and pastries.