Two men have been arrested over a £50 million burglary at Tamara Ecclestone’s London mansion.
The soclialite’s £70million 57-room Kensington home was targeted by thieves in December.
Police have arrested a 29-year-old man at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of involvement in the raid which saw a gang of burglars make off with every piece of the F1 heiress’s jewellery.
Thieves stole £50million worth of jewellery from Tamara Ecclestone, who is pictured with husband Jay Rutland
Hours later, a second man was held at a property in East London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and money laundering.
Both men were kept in custody overnight.
The thieves entered the grand house via the back garden and spent 50 minutes stealing the stash which included precious earrings with ‘personal meaning’ and a £80,000 Cartier bangle wedding gift from her husband.
The raid came after documents showing drawings of each room were available to view on a council website after the couple submitted a planning application to renovate their mansion.
The application was reportedly submitted to Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council shortly after the F1 heiress and her husband Jay Rutland bought the property in 2011.
The heist at Ecclestone’s house (above) took place on one of London ‘s most exclusive streets, nicknamed Billionaire’s Row, in Kensington
It included the location of a safe in Tamara’s dressing room, and information on technology used in the alarm system, The Sun reports.
Even though the stolen jewellery was not in the safe, the plans could have made the luxury home a target for thieves.
A source close to the heiress said she was deeply upset by the suggestion that she might have unwittingly helped burglars break into the home.
Tamara, the daughter of billionaire former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, has two engagement rings, worth £250,000 each, but it is not known if these were taken.
Tamara and her husband had flown to Lapland with their daughter five-year-old Sophia by private jet just hours before the raid
The heiress also has several sets of diamond stud earrings valued at around £50,000 per pair and a large watch collection including Rolex, Hublot and Cartier pieces worth up to £100,000 a pop.
The gang of three thieves were able to smash open several bedroom safes and fled via an open window despite a guard sitting in a CCTV room and the mansion run by up to 50 staff being on an exclusive street boasting 24-hour security patrols and multiple checkpoints.
Tamara and her husband had flown to Lapland with their daughter five-year-old Sophia by private jet just hours before the raid.
Ecclestone’s house (pictured) has 24-hour security and checkpoints because of the rich residents and embassies on the road
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘During the evening of Thursday, 30 January, a man aged 29, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary.
‘He was taken into custody where he remains.
Tamara has an extraordinary array of jewellery including watches, rings, earrings and rare pieces said to be worth millions of pounds and everything is said to have been taken
‘At around 20:23 hours on Thursday 30 January, a man age 31 [B] was arrested at an address in East London on suspicion of conspiracy to commit burglary and money laundering. He was taken into custody where he remains.
‘The arrest relates to a burglary… on Friday, 13 December. Police were called to the scene at around 23:11hrs after a number of items of jewellery were reported stolen.’
The gated property faces Kensington Palace, where Prince William and his family lives, and backs on to exclusive streets linking Kensington and Notting Hill.
Their neighbours include Foxtons’ founder Jon Hunt, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, the Sultan of Brunei, China’s richest man, Wang Jianlin and a string of embassies including Russia’s all guarded by the Met’s elite diplomatic group officers.
It was not the first time the Ecclestones have been stung by thieves, after Tamara’s ex-brother-in-law James Stunt claimed he was the victim of a £90million heist in his Belgravia home in 2017.
But police closed the investigation months later and no arrests have been made.
And in 2010, Tamara’s dad Bernie was mugged of his £200,000 jewellery in front of his girlfriend.