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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
John Dunne

Burglar in £26m raid on Tamara Ecclestone's Kensington mansion 'freed from jail after two years'

A criminal in a burglary gang who escaped with a £26 million haul in a raid on Tamara Ecclestone's Kensington home has been released from jail after just two years, according to reports.

Alessandro Donati, 46, was given an eight-year sentence in November 2021 along with Alessandro Maltese, 47, while Jugoslav Jovanovic, 26, was sentenced to 11 years.

The burglars ransacked the mansion of Ecclestone, 39, after beating tight security measures while the family were on holiday in 2019.

Tamara Ecclestone with her husband Jay Rutland (Dave Benett)

Donati was released just before Christmas while Maltese is expected to be released shortly, according to MailOnline.

He flew home to his native Milan on December 19 and shortly after his return police raided his home to see if any of the missing haul was hidden there.

None of the items, including precious jewellery, has ever been recovered and Scotland Yard believe they were taken to Serbia and laundered there.

The raid is believed to be Britain's largest ever jewellery heist.

Donati was deported after his release as is required under the law.

However in Italy he is not subject to any restrictions as he is no longer part of the British judicial system and is free.

His lawyer Angelo Pariani told MailOnline: "I can confirm my client was released from jail and returned to Italy last month.

"He served the sentence he should have and was freed after agreeing to be deported to Italy and he can now do as he pleases, his obligation to the judicial system is over.

"I would imagine that Ms Ecclestone has been informed but he has no idea where the items taken are, most likely they are in Serbia, he doesn't have anything.

"The Italian police went to his home after his return but all they found was £120 in British banknotes and that was given to him to pay for his flight.

"He has admitted he took part in the break-ins, but he didn't take £26 million, that is all probably in Serbia. The police won't find anything with my client."

The three men, who are all Italian nationals, were jailed at Isleworth Crown Court.

All three admitted their part in a plot to carry out three raids across west London over two weeks in December 2019.

The gang hit the home of socialite Ecclestone, as well as that of former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard and his wife Christine and the late Leicester City chief Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Ecclestone, the daughter of former F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, was on a family holiday in Lapland when the thieves struck.

Ms Ecclestone said wedding presents were among the items stolen and that had "made me really sad".

She added: "A lot of it was really personal, I wanted to give some of the items to my daughter one day.

"It hasn't been easy but I guess now it just makes me think, what if, if something worse…it has got me thinking all different kinds of things, and I'm now obsessing overs security, the gates and barbed wires, spikes and stuff and it's not really how I want to live my life."

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