Wimbledon Prowler ‘stole up to £10m’ in burglary spree
Home raider admits making 400-mile journeys over a decade to target affluent London district
A CRIMINAL nicknamed the Wimbledon Prowler has admitted numerous burglaries that netted him an estimated £10 million over a decade-long spree.
Asdrit Kapaj, 42, who ran a fish-andchip shop in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, regularly made the 400-mile round journey to steal from homes in the affluent south-west London area.
Boris Becker, the former Wimbledon tennis champion, and Nicolas Anelka, the ex-arsenal footballer, were among the residents allegedly targeted.
Despite a significant police operation to foil his raids, the married father of two repeatedly slipped the net.
He admitted 24 offences yesterday, amounting to £90,000 of stolen goods, but is thought to have committed 400 burglaries between 2008 and 2019. All the while, Kapaj, who arrived in the UK as a teenager in the late Nineties, led a seemingly normal life in the north of England.
The long campaign of burglaries only came to an end when his car was repeatedly spotted on Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras travelling back and forth between Manchester and London.
Yesterday, Kapaj admitted 24 offences. Judge Peter Lodder QC described Kapaj as having “identified a particular area and conducted a sustained campaign”.
Kapaj was convicted at Kingston Crown Court of burglary, attempted burglary and being found equipped for burglary, almost exclusively committed in the SW19 and SW20 postcodes.
Prosecutors said the value of his haul – chiefly jewellery, designer clothes and cash – was £632,000, but a previous hearing was told it could be as high as £10million. His methods were skillfully honed to avoid detection as he crept into the homes in the middle of the night, often wearing a fisherman’s hat and hiding his face.
He would focus on stealing cash and jewellery, rather than large electronic items, and such was his subtlety that victims often did not initially realise they had been burgled.
After Becker’s home was targeted in 2014, the tennis star’s wife, Lilly, said she could no longer enjoy living there. The charge relating to the alleged Becker burglary was not put to Kapaj at yesterday’s hearing.
He was finally linked to the spate of burglaries when he was arrested with his face covered by a snood and carrying a pocket knife, torch and gloves.
Tahir Ali, defending, told a previous hearing he had struggled with a “gambling addiction”, but questioned claims the offences were worth £10million.
Speaking yesterday, one victim, Philippa Beck, 81, said she was struck by “blank amazement” upon learning the culprit’s identity.
Laurie Porter, the chairman of the neighbourhood police patrol, added: “We will be sleeping more easily now.”
He was remanded in custody for sentencing, which will take place at the same court on June 21.
Last night, it was claimed by his brother that Kapaj was a bogus Kosovan refugee and was in fact Albanian.
Nexhip Kapaj told The Daily Mail that his brother was born near Gjorm, a village in southern Albania, in 1977, and had no links to Kosovo. Claiming to be Kosovan was the easiest way for Albanians to enter the UK, he said.