Burglar admits plot to have £26m of cash and jewellery stolen from celebrities including Tamara Ecclestone
Socialite Tamara Ecclestone and former Chelsea footballer, Frank Lampard, were among celebrities stolen from by the organised crime gang
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A burglar has confessed to a plot to have £26 million worth of money and jewellery stolen from celebrity homes.
Jugoslav Jovanic, 24, was involved in an organised, international crime gang who stole from a number of British celebrities while they were out of the country.
They include Tamara Ecclestone, the daughter of former Formula 1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who had around £25 million worth of money and jewellery stolen from her Kensington mansion while she was in Lapland with her family in December of 2019 – reportedly the UK’s biggest ever burglary.
Former Chelsea football player, Frank Lampard, also had £50,000 worth of property stolen by the gang from his west London home, where he lives with his television presenter wife Christine.
The property of late Leicester City football club owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, also had almost £1 million worth of valuables stolen. The property has been turned into a shrine by Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s family, after he died in a helicopter crash in Leicester in 2018.
The roughly £26.5 million worth of property stolen in the three burglaries has not yet been retrieved, and police believe it has been taken abroad.
Milan-born Jovanovic was extradited from Italy to stand trial at Isleworth Crown Court in London, but he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiracy to launder money between December 2019 and January 2020.
He previously confessed to conspiring to burgle between November and December 2019 as well as attempting to convert criminal property, in connection to a failed attempt at purchasing designer Louis Vuitton jackets from Harrods department store in London using stolen money.
Jovanovic will be sentenced on November 15 alongside Alessandro Donati, 44, and Alessandro Maltese, 45, who were also extradited to the UK from Italy and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit burglary.
Another alleged burglar involved, 40-year-old Daniel Vukovic, has not been found by police and is thought to be in Belgrade, Serbia.