Jewel thieves swiped millions of dollars in merchandise from a wealthy Saudi widow’s London apartment last week — a day before burglars stole a trove of jewels from Formula One heiress Tamara Ecclestone’s nearby house, a report said.
In the heist at the Saudi woman’s apartment, the thieves broke into the fourth-floor apartment in the Knightsbridge neighborhood, which is about a mile from Ecclestone’s home, the Sun reported.
Inside the apartment, the burglars swiped more than $7 million in jewels, including a diamond-encrusted watch and a necklace-earring set worth more than $2.5 million, according to the report.
The widow was not named in the report and police told the newspaper the two robberies are not believed to be connected.
“I am absolutely devastated. They are irreplaceable. The police don’t seem to care. I am too scared to go back to the flat. London is just lawless right now. Where are the police?” the widow, who lives in the apartment with her infant son, told the newspaper.
On Friday, Ecclestone and her husband had $66 million jewelry stolen from their sprawling London home in the city’s billionaire’s row.
Three burglars allegedly ransacked their home in Kensington during a 50-minute raid Friday night, just hours after the couple left on a private jet for the Christmas holiday, the Sun reported.
Ecclestone’s father, business magnate Bernie Ecclestone, suggested Monday the robbery was likely an inside job.
“I don’t have all the facts but given all the security at the house, I’m assuming it was an inside job,” Bernie Ecclestone said.
“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,” he added.