James Stunt’s former bodyguard, who was keeping watch at the billionaire’s London mansion the night of an alleged £90million burglary, has insisted there was no break-in.
Justin Kalnutis said that neither he nor two other security staff guarding the property saw or heard anything suspicious on the evening of December 13 last year when thieves are said to have raided a safe in the art dealer’s office.
Stunt told police that a treasure trove of jewellery, gems, cash and diamond-encrusted watches, including one belonging to his late brother Lee who died in 2016, had been taken from his home in Belgravia.
But Justin told MailOnline: ‘Nothing happened that night. I was in the house all night and there was no way anyone could have got access to that safe.
‘I was watching the office where the safe is kept most of the evening. There was no break-in.’
The items were locked in the safe before the billionaire went to bed but were discovered missing the following morning and reported stolen.
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation but shut it down four months later without locating any of the stolen goods nor any proper public appeals for information on their whereabouts.
James Stunt’s former bodyguard, who was keeping watch at the billionaire’s (pictured) London mansion on the night of an alleged £90million burglary has insisted there was no break-in
In November, a month before the alleged break-in, a former staff member says he took this photo to document the contents of the safe. Among the items reportedly stolen were four blue diamonds, four gold bars, worth £200k, bought from Brussels-based precious metals company Umicore and five Swiss-made Audemars Piguet watches which sell for up to £500k
Stunt’s former bodyguard Justin Kalnutis (pictured) said that neither he nor two other security staff guarding the property saw or heard anything suspicious on the evening of December 13 last year when thieves are said to have raided a safe in the billionaire’s office
Meanwhile a new photograph has emerged showing Stunt lying next to a brunette woman while at the foot of the bed is a tray with white powder, similar-looking to cocaine
Justin, who previously revealed how he had been paid to provide a urine sample for Stunt so he could cheat a drugs test and see his children, said he was on duty between the hours of 7pm to 7am on the night of the ‘burglary’.
He and the other two guards alternated between patrolling the inside and outside of the £12million mews house and keeping a watch by the back door in the kitchen.
Justin said he was based mainly in the kitchen, which is opposite the office where the safe is kept.
He said the kitchen has a window from which you can view the office door. Justin maintains that at no point did he see anyone enter or leave the room overnight on December 13.
‘James had three security guards on duty that night, one patrolling the perimeter of the house, another patrolling the interior and myself guarding the back door in the kitchen.
‘I was there all night virtually from the start of my shift at 7pm to the end of it at 7am before we handed over to the day team.
‘There is a see-through perspex window on the inside wall of the kitchen through which you can see the whole of the ground floor of the property.
‘From where I was sitting I had a clear vantage point of the office door where the safe was located and I didn’t once see or hear anything suspicious.’
Stunt (pictured with suspicious white marks on his trousers on a night out) has denied concocting the break-in, which dwarfs the previous burglary in Britain, the £25 million Hatton Garden raid in 2015. He said at the time: ‘It’s disgusting how people are commenting that I’m a criminal. It’s not true or fair. I just want whoever did this arrested and my things back’
Among other items reportedly taken from the safe in the £90m burglary were a yellow diamond ring from jewellers Moussaieff worth £1.5million and up to £50,000 in cash
Also apparently taken in the raid were two vivid blue diamonds – between four and five carat and worth as much as £5 million each – similar to the one in the pictures, it is claimed
The first Justin and his colleagues heard of the incident came an hour after they had clocked off when Stunt’s head of security called them and asked him to return to work.
The security boss had arrived just before their shifts ended at 7am on December 14.
He opened the safe but found that it was empty so alerted Stunt who then called the police.
Justin and the other members of staff who had been working overnight were asked to give a statement to detectives at Stunt’s home before attending a central London police station later in the day to go through their version of events.
Two more members of Stunt’s household have also come forward to say they too believe no break-in took place.
One, who asked not to be named, said Stunt’s home had a state-of-the-art alarm system which was activated on the night of the alleged raid but had not been placed on ‘armed mode’ meaning motion detectors were not working.
There was no CCTV system set up either.
The items that were placed in the safe and later reported stolen included the four blue diamonds, three white diamonds and a large pink diamond, said to be worth at least £2 million.
There were also five Swiss-made Audemars Piguet watches, which can sell for as much as £500,000, four gold bars and a £1.5 million yellow diamond ring from jewellers Moussaieff as well as up to £50,000 in cash.
The 6kg gold bars, worth about £200,000, are believed to have been bought from Brussels-based precious metals company Umicore, which has a turnover of £9 billion.
Two vivid blue diamonds– between four and five carat and worth as much as £5million each – are understood to have been taken.
According to the source, last November, as Stunt prepared to move to his new home off Eaton Square, the contents of the safe were documented and photographed.
The former member of staff said: ‘The items in those photographs were the same items he reported stolen a month or so later.
‘James also reported that £50,000 in notes had been stolen. Apparently it was no more than £500.
‘Nobody saw or heard an intruder that evening and the house was full of people. I don’t believe a burglary took place,’ they added.
Stunt apparently accused members of his security team of stealing from him, which prompted one of them to leave.
According to the source the businessman is not as wealthy as he likes to portray and owes thousands of pounds in unpaid legal fees, phone bills and utility bills.
He also owes more than £100,000 to his staff while at the same time blowing £70,000 a month on drugs.
Stunt, who is divorced from Petra Ecclestone, has recently been pictured with Kristina Wurtemberg, 26, a model and actress from Canada to whom he has been romantically linked
The art trader’s ex-bodyguard Justin recently claimed that his boss paid him £150 to give him a urine sample and help him fake a drugs test as part of his divorce battle. Now new pictures have emerged (above) of Stunt lying on the bed with white powder in a tray on the bed
Meanwhile another ex-staff member gave MailOnline this photo of a cocaine-like substance in a bowl next to Stunt’s bed taken on January 23 during his High Court divorce hearing
A new photo has emerged showing Stunt lying next to a brunette woman while at the foot of the bed is a tray with white powder, similar-looking to cocaine.
The ex-employee said: ‘He has a real problem with drugs and spends £35,000 every fortnight on cocaine but he’s running out of money fast.
‘Yet he likes to keep up the pretence that he’s this billionaire businessman with cash to burn.’
In a statement in April Scotland Yard said detectives had completed all lines of inquiry into the break-in, despite the items still apparently unaccounted for, and that the investigation is now closed.
Stunt has denied concocting details of the break-in, which dwarfs the previous burglary in Britain, the £25 million Hatton Garden raid in 2015.
He said at the time: ‘It’s disgusting how people are commenting that I’m a criminal. It’s not true or fair. I just want whoever did this arrested and my things back.’
Speaking in March, he told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: ‘Forget the gold and watches — they took a lot of very rare diamonds. It’s not nice being robbed, especially for that amount.’