Shortly before 7.15pm on the evening of Sunday, December 1, 2019, a young man rang the doorbell of a West London townhouse.
The £12 million property belonged to the TV presenter Christine Lampard and her husband Frank, the former Chelsea and England footballer.
But the caller did not want to meet the Lampards. The opposite, in fact. He was checking they were out — the first step in a plan to target three homes belonging to three very rich, very famous individuals.
The second house on the burglars' list was the Knightsbridge home of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha — the billionaire chairman of Leicester City football club, who the previous year had tragically died in a helicopter crash at Leicester's stadium.
He made his fortune in duty-free retail in Thailand and his home had been left untouched following his death.
The third and final property to be hit was the jewel in the crown, so to speak — the £70 million, 55-room mansion near Kensington Palace belonging to Tamara Ecclestone, the daughter of the billionaire former Formula One supremo Bernie, and her husband Jay Rutland.
In a plot worthy of a hit heist movie, the gang managed to evade the tightest of security and plunder jewellery and cash worth £26 million — £25 million of which came from the Ecclestones' property alone — before seemingly vanishing into thin air.
It is the highest value burglary in English criminal history — and most of the loot, believed to have been smuggled abroad, has never been recovered.
The third and final property to be hit was the jewel in the crown, so to speak — the £70 million, 55-room mansion near Kensington Palace belonging to Tamara Ecclestone, the daughter of the billionaire former Formula One supremo Bernie, and her husband Jay Rutland (pictured together)
The 37-year-old socialite is said to have been left terrified by the raid, with her daughter asking ever since if the burglars are 'coming back'.
Flying Squad detectives analysed more than 2,000 hours of video footage and relentlessly pursued those responsible across the globe, eventually identifying four key suspects.
While one remains on the run, the other three — Alessandro Maltese, 45, Alessandro Donati, 44, and Jugoslav Jovanovic, 24 — were extradited from Italy to Britain to face the music.
Yesterday Jovanovic, who had been due to stand trial at Isleworth Crown Court, followed the other two in finally admitting his full part in the audacious raids and subsequent laundering of the loot.
He had previously admitted conspiracy to burgle and one count of attempting to convert criminal property, relating to a failed bid to buy two Louis Vuitton jackets from Harrods using stolen cash.
He initially denied laundering the proceeds of the three heists but yesterday changed his plea to guilty.
Following his plea, Detective Constable Andrew Payne, of Scotland Yard's Flying Squad, said: 'These defendants were part of a highly sophisticated plot which ultimately had just one aim — to steal as much as possible from these three homes and flee the United Kingdom with precious stones, including diamonds, and cash.
'They were successful in executing the first stage of their plan . . . They no doubt thought they had got away with their crimes but little did they know how determined we were to identify them and bring them back to the UK to face justice.
'The evidence against them was so overwhelming that they were left with no other option than to plead guilty.'
While all three men will be sentenced on November 15, Jovanovic's admission means that the full, extraordinary story of the break-ins dubbed the 'burglaries of the century' can now be told for the first time.
Police explained that, having initially done reconnaissance on London mansions belonging to a number of celebrities, the gang had chosen their high-profile targets after a long period observing each home.
The Lampards, Ecclestones and Mr Srivaddhanaprabha were most likely chosen because of the high value of their items, plus accessibility.
According to prosecutors, the burglars were after two things: 'fabulous jewellery' and 'cold hard cash'. Combined, the thieves would end up stealing about £26 million worth of property.
The break-in at the Lampards' house would net the burglars items worth £60,000.
A court heard that 24-year-old Jovanovic and a second burglar — both of whom had flown in to London the previous day — broke into the house between 7.10pm and 8pm that evening.
Having first checked that no one was in, they made their way to a nearby street and gained entry to the back garden.
Once in, they stole watches including Mrs Lampard's £36,000 Patek Philippe Nautilus rose gold ladies watch, a clock and a pair of cufflinks.
Nine days later, on December 10, they turned their attention to the property belonging to Mr Srivaddhanaprabha, which had been turned into a shrine by his family following his death in a helicopter crash in 2018.
On the previous day, they had been joined by two other gang members, Donati and Maltese, who had flown in from Italy.
Having checked that no one was in, they broke in to the house through the patio windows and managed to gain entry to one of the safes inside.
They left with £1 million-worth of property, including more Patek Philippe watches and £360,000 in euros.
The final burglary took place on the evening of December 13. According to evidence given in court, CCTV footage from the scene showed Donati, Maltese and a third burglar entering the rear of the address via the back garden while Jovanovic stood watch at the end of the street.
They would escape with a haul valued at £25 million — this included £145,000 in cash and 450 items of jewellery stolen from heavily fortified cabinets in Ms Ecclestone's boutique-style jewellery rooms for her Hermes and Chanel goods.
Rings, earrings and an £80,000 Cartier bangle wedding gift were taken.
During court proceedings it was claimed that the series of raids were like something from the Tom Cruise film Mission: Impossible.
But details that subsequently emerged suggested that the raiders were lucky not to have been caught on a number of occasions.
Jovanovic carried out the £25million heist at Ms Ecclestone's Kensington property (pictured) with expert jewel thieves Alessandro Maltese, 45, nicknamed the 'Pink Panther', and 44-year-old Alessandro Donati
During the raid on the Lampards' house, the two burglars activated an alarm and had to flee out of the back door as police arrived at the front.
As they scaled a wall at the rear, one of them cut themselves on glass embedded on top, leaving vital DNA clues behind.
At Mr Srivaddhanaprabha's house they attempted to gain entry to four safes but, despite arming themselves with a cutting torch, ended up only getting in to one of them — with a hammer.
On the day after the raid they were caught on CCTV celebrating with a £760 lunch including bottles of Chateaux Ruinart rose champagne at the Zuma Japanese restaurant on Raphael Street, Knightsbridge — a stone's throw from the house they had broken into.
The raid on the Ecclestones was not only the most
