Tamara Ecclestone raid: 'Burglars scaled garages'

Tamara Ecclestone's luxury home near Kensington Palace was targeted

A team of burglars who stole £25m of goods from F1 heiress Tamara Ecclestone "did a bit of Spiderman" to carry out the raid on her home, a court heard.

The group is said to have accessed her west London house by climbing over a garage and jumping into the garden.

Afterwards, the group is said to have "flagged down a taxi" to make its getaway from the luxury property.

Maria Mester, Emil Bogdan Savastru, Alexandru Stan and Sorin Marcovici deny conspiracy to burgle.

Isleworth Crown Court heard on three separate evenings last December watches and jewellery were taken from the homes of Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, the family of former Leicester City chairman Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, and Ms Ecclestone and her husband Jay Rutland.

Jurors were shown an image from Maria Mester's Facebook in which she is said to be wearing Tamara Ecclestone's necklace

Ms Mester, 47, her 30-year-old son Mr Savastru, Mr Stan, 49, and Mr Marcovici, 52, were the "support cast" to the alleged burglars, jurors heard.

They were told the team set up "a base" at TLK Apartments in Orpington, Bromley, and could be seen travelling from St Mary Cray station on several occasions between 1 December and 13 December.

They were also shown police reconstruction videos of the properties.

Referring to the clip showing Mr Lampard's home, prosecutor Paul Jarvis said to get into the rear garden "from my observation, it was difficult".

"Effectively you would have to do some fence-hopping and the only other way was by another road," he said of the raid on 1 December.

"In order to get over the first boundary there's glass that's cemented into the wall, so there's a bit of a risk and then you'd have to go past two properties and there is a possibility you could be seen."

Around £60,000 worth of property was taken from the home of Frank and Christine Lampard

Mr Srivaddhanaprabha's home was next to be targeted on 10 December, the court heard, where £1m of goods were taken.

Jurors were then shown clips re-enacting how the alleged burglars were thought to have entered Ms Ecclestone's home three days later.

Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha died in a helicopter crash in 2018

Det Con Andy Payne told the court the group was "dropped off" by taxi on Kensington High Road then made their way to the back garden of a nearby vicarage which backed on to Ms Ecclestone's property.

He said in order to get in there someone would "have to do a bit of Spiderman" - showing the jury how it would have involved getting on to a garage and jumping down into the garden.

After raiding the property, the burglars "flagged down a taxi" and rode back to Orpington, the court heard.

The trial continues.