Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
£50m Tamara gem raid ‘an inside job’
Heir’s dad Bernie tells of his suspicions
RAIDERS who stole £50million of jewellery from Tamara Ecclestone’s home had help from an inside man, her father suspects.
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said they must have had help to evade the huge security at his daughter’s £70million, 57-room West London mansion.
Three intruders appear to have entered the home without activating an alarm and were inside for 50 minutes before leaving through a window.
They were able to gain access to safes – thought to be topof-the-range strongboxes – while a
CCTV room was reportedly manned.
Mr Ecclestone, 89, said: “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.”
Scotland Yard said they were alerted by security staff in the house only after the criminals had fled the scene.
Ms Ecclestone, 35, her husband Jay Rutland, 38, and daughter Sophia had just boarded a jet to Lapland when the burglars struck on Friday evening. A spokesman said: “Tamara and family are well but obviously angry and shaken by the incident.”
Detectives are investigating whether the raiders had been monitoring Ms Ecclestone’s prolific social media posts for clues as to her movements.
She had posted a photograph of Sophia, five, as they boarded the private plane on Friday afternoon, telling her 437,000 followers: “Pretty excited the holidays are here.” She continued to post pics and video on social media during the weekend, including her family enjoying a sleigh ride. An £80,000 Cartier bangle wedding gift from her husband is believed to among the missing items.
Det Sgt Matthew Pountney said: “A number of officers, including the dog unit, deployed to the residential property, in Palace Green, W8. However, the suspects had already left the scene when the call to police was made.
“We are investigating this as an isolated burglary and are retaining an open mind about other lines of inquiry.”