Manhunt for £25million Ecclestone burglary mastermind
POLICE across Europe are hunting the mastermind behind Britain’s biggest burglaries, including a £25million raid on Tamara Ecclestone’s mansion.
Ljubomir Romanov, a 40-yearold Serbian with multiple aliases, is said to have led a series of burglaries targeting celebrities.
With his international gang of thieves, he is believed to have ransacked the London homes of Frank and Christine Lampard, and the late Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in December 2019.
Romanov – whose 19 aliases also include Peruvian national ‘Alfredo Lindley’ and Croatian ‘Daniel
Serbian with multiple aliases
Vukovic’ – has also been linked with a break-in at the home of Crystal Palace manager Patrick Vieira in 2009 when he was playing for Inter Milan.
He is known in Italy as Lupin – after the fictional French gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, created by Maurice LeBlanc – and is also thought to be behind raids at the homes of late Italian fashion designer Nicola Trussardi and Vieira’s teammate at Inter Milan, Sulley Muntari.
He appeared in court as Romanov in Belgrade on August 27. He faced extradition to the UK over the London burglaries – but the Serbian authorities rejected the request.
British officials then lost an appeal against the decision on October 3, court documents reveal.
Romanov has a criminal record in Italy dating back to 1995. He is believed to be in Belgrade.
Romanov is listed as co-owner of a construction company in the city and his Serbian government-issued ID shows his family address is in Obrenovac, a municipality of Belgrade.
Three men have been convicted over the burglaries at the homes of Formula One heiress Miss Ecclestone, the Lampards and Mr Srivaddhanaprabha. Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24, Alessandro Maltese, 45, and Alessandro Donati, 44, were extradited from Italy to the UK and have admitted their part in the raids. They will be sentenced on November 15.
The thieves escaped with 400 items and £125,000 in cash from Miss Ecclestone’s 55-bedroom Kensington mansion in December 2019 in the UK’s largest ever domestic burglary.
They stole £50,000 worth of property from the home of former Chelsea manager Lampard. Almost £1million worth of goods was taken from Mr Srivaddhanaprabha’s home, which his family turned into a shrine following his death in 2018. Most of the loot has never been recovered.