Serbia refuses to extradite suspect in £25m raid on Tamara Ecclestone's home

London's Met Police are seeking to extradite Daniel Vukovic

Jewellery stolen from the London home of Tamara Ecclestone and her husband Jay Rutland as burglars carried out what police described as Britain's biggest domestic burglary plot yet. PA

Serbia has refused a request from British police to extradite an alleged suspect in a £25 million raid on socialite and media star Tamara Ecclestone's home.

Daniel Vukovic is wanted in connection with a series of burglaries on the homes of three celebrities in December 2019.

London's Metropolitan Police Service applied to extradite him from Serbia in 2021, the BBC said, for conspiracy to commit a burglary and to launder money.

The request was refused in July by a High Court in Belgrade, according to court documents seen by the BBC.

A request to appeal the decision was refused in October.

The appeal was refused on the grounds that Mr Vukovic is a legal resident of Serbia and under a treaty agreement between Serbia and the UK each country can deny extradition of its own citizens, the BBC said.

He is believed to have been one of four Italians who allegedly targeted the homes of Ms Ecclestone — the daughter of Bernie Ecclestone, the former chief executive of the Formula One Group — footballer Frank Lampard, and the late former owner of Leicester City Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha.

Mr Vukovic is also known to Italian authorities under 17 other identities and according to the BBC his real name could be Alfredo Lindley.

He has links to Sarajevo, Belgrade, Zagreb and Milan.

Police have also linked Mr Vukovic to the alleged burglaries of international footballers Patrick Vieira and Sulley Muntari in 2009, according to Italian court documents.