Ecclestone: $100m raid was inside job
Bernie Ecclestone has suggested that a multimillion-pound jewellery burglary at his daughter’s west London home was an inside job.
Security staff for Tamara Ecclestone called police just after
11pm on Friday, local time, after three men were seen inside her
£70 million (NZ$140m) home in Kensington. They are said to have escaped with jewellery worth up to £50 million (NZ$100m).
The thieves struck a few hours after Ecclestone had boarded a private jet with her husband, Jay Rutland, and their five-year-old daughter, Sophia, for a Christmas holiday in Lapland. The house is said by neighbours to be one of the most closely guarded on the street, with state-of-the-art security systems.
Ecclestone, 89, the former boss of Formula One, told
‘‘I don’t have all the facts but given all the security at the house, I’m assuming it was an inside job. It’s an awful thing to happen just after she had left the house to go to Lapland. Although maybe it’s better that she wasn’t in at the time. I’ve tried to call her this morning to see what the latest is but I couldn’t get through.’’
Security experts pointed out that Ms Ecclestone had posted on
Instagram that the family would be away some hours before the burglary.
Ecclestone appeared to share her father’s view, posting a biblical passage from Luke viii, 17 after the burglary saying: ‘‘For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.’’
Scotland Yard detectives were examining CCTV footage from the property. No one had been arrested yesterday. Police confirmed that the raid was not being linked to other burglaries in the area. The family’s wealthy neighbours include Jon Hunt, founder of the Foxtons estate agency, Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea football club, and the Sultan of Brunei, as well as at least six foreign embassies.
Armed police stand at either end of the street and there are 24-hour security patrols and checkpoints.
Neighbours told The Sun that the raiders were inside the house for 50 minutes and smashed open safes hidden inside the couple’s dressing rooms. They are believed to have broken in through the garden after climbing over the back fence. They fled through an open window after being disturbed by a security guard.
Security industry figures have highlighted Ecclestone’s fondness for posting details of her private life on social media. Blackstone Consultancy, a security company, said that she had posted an image of her daughter boarding the private jet at 2pm on Instagram saying: ‘‘Pretty excited the holidays are here.’
Two years ago a judge told the former England captain John Terry that he should not have posted an Instagram picture showing that he was on holiday after a gang of burglars targeted his mansion while he was away.
Jewellery experts said that the stolen items were likely to be broken up to be sold on.
Christopher Marinello, of Art Recovery International, said complete pieces such as watches were occasionally sold on to buyers who did not care where their purchases had come from.