Call girl ‘not involved in Khun Vichai home raid’
WOMAN ALLEGED TO HAVE HELPED THIEVES BEHIND A £26M PLOT
A “CALL girl” arrested over a burglary at the home of the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha told a detective he had lovely eyes during questioning.
Isleworth Crown Court was told that Maria Mester made the comments to a police officer after she was arrested at Stansted Airport in January on suspicion of her involvement in the £26 million burglary plot.
She is one of four Romanians on trial for helping a team of burglars steal from Khun Vichai, as well as Frank and Christine Lampard and socialite Tamara Ecclestone.
The court heard when detained, Mester, 47, was wearing a pair of £6,000 earrings allegedly stolen during the raid on the Kensington home of Ms Ecclestone.
Mester, her son Emil Bogdan Savastru, 30, her friend Sorin Marcovici, 53, and Alexandru Stan, 49, all deny conspiring to burgle the three homes in West London during a two-week spree in December.
The quartet are not on trial for carrying out the raids. The four men accused of being the actual burglars cannot be named for legal reasons.
Mester told police she had never stolen anything, “not even a chicken”.
The court heard Mester denied being part of the plot.
She told Detective Constable Glen Peach: “I know you want the big people, I don’t have anything to do with it.” She said of Ms Ecclestone’s mansion: “I’ve never been in that house. I’ve never stolen.”
She was described by her own lawyer as a call girl who was paid thousands of Euros for a week’s work in London.
Chelsea FC manager Mr Lampard and his television presenter wife had about £60,000 in watches and jewellery stolen the previous week.
The alleged burglars then ransacked the family home of Khun Vichai, who died in 2018 in a helicopter crash at King Power Stadium, making off with £1 million in property and cash.
Prosecutors say Mester and her three co-defendants arranged transport, accommodation and other assistance at various times, before helping launder the proceeds.
Also giving evidence this week was Stan, who worked as a hotel concierge.
He said he had been asked by a friend to help the accused burglars find cars and accommodation but was not in on the burglary plot.
Stan told police in interview: “I was not involved in any part.”
The four defendants deny all charges. The trial continues.