Gang jailed after targeting celebrity homes in record £26m burglary spree

Two were sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail while the third was given 11 years

Alessandro Maltese, 45, Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24 and Alessandro Donati, 44 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle between 29 November and 18 December 2019 (PA)

Three men were jailed on Monday after stealing £26m worth of cash, jewellery and gems from celebrity homes.

Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24, Alessandro Maltese, 45, and Alessandro Donati, 44, were jailed at Isleworth Crown Court in what has been called Britain’s biggest ever burglary spree.

The three Italian nationals admitted a plot to carry out three raids in west London over 13 days in December 2019.

The gang targeted celebrities including former Chelsea FC midfielder and manager Frank Lampard, 43, and his 42-year-old television presenter wife Christine, the late Leicester City FC owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, and socialite Tamara Ecclestone, 37.

Mr Jovanovic, who also admitted conspiracy to commit money laundering between 10 December 2019 and 31 January last year, and one count of attempting to convert criminal property, was jailed for 11 years on Monday by Judge Martin Edmunds QC, while Mr Maltese and Mr Donati were handed sentences of eight years and nine months.

Another man, Ljubomir Romanov, 40, from Servia Detectives is thought by detectives to be a fourth main gang member, according to Sky News. Mr Romanov is thought to be in Belgrade, where the authorities refused to extradite him to the UK in August.

Judge Edmunds QC said the gang had chosen their targets because of the “celebrity of their occupants”, adding: “The distress caused by the burglary of a home to householders who may be well-known or wealthy is not less than that caused to those in different circumstances.”

Ms Ecclestone, the daughter of former Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, had around £25m worth of money and jewellery stolen from her Kensington mansion while she was in Lapland with her family in December 2019.

In a victim impact statement read at the trial, Ms Ecclestone said: “It’s been really awful. I’m so scared, I will not leave my daughter alone in the house at night, because I just feel like the people I am meant to trust, I don’t, I’m not sure that I can trust anyone. I have just been so scared.”

Ms Ecclestone said the loss of gifts from her parents, including a wedding present from her mother, “made me really sad”, adding: “A lot of it was really personal, I wanted to give some of the items to my daughter one day.”

“It hasn’t been easy but I guess now it just makes me think, what if, if something worse... It has got me thinking all different kinds of things, and I’m now obsessing over security, the gates and barbed wires, spikes and stuff and it’s not really how I want to live my life.”

The gang stole a further £50,000 worth of property from Mr Lampard’s home in west London and almost £1m worth of valuables from the property of Mr Srivaddhanaprabha, which was turned into a shrine after his death in 2018.

Mr Lampard said the crime had had a “major impact” on his general feeling of security, adding: “The fact that my job means I travel frequently again raises my concerns.

“Neither Christine nor I are sleeping too well as a consequence of this incident,” he said. “I would add that while I have been an unfortunate victim of a crime previously, particularly burglary, this incident has had a far greater impact on our lives.”

His wife added: “Since this break-in at my house, I am much more fearful of being alone in my own home, I am less trusting of visitors to the house and feel unsafe in my home.

“I have a young daughter and feel vulnerable in a home which I had previously always felt safe and happy in. I have struggled to sleep sometimes since the incident as I am sensitive to any noise from outside, fearing another attack.”

A victim impact statement on behalf of Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s family said: “Our late father’s residence was a place for reflection and to pray.

“We felt it was the strongest connection to him as he spent his last night there before his death. Since the burglary, our sacred and special connection has been damaged and violated beyond repair.”

Additional reporting by PA