Notorious burglar who made worldwide headlines after stealing £100,000 from ex-Chelsea, Man Utd and Spurs boss Jose Mourinho jailed for latest house raid after travelling from Portsmouth

‘Inveterate burglar’ Jamie Filan, 41, travelled from Portsmouth to the New Forest before carrying out an impromptu ambush on a property that saw him pocket £20,000 worth of jewellery and watches.

Filan, who had been living in Waterlooville at the time, carried out the burglary after going to collect cash from a mystery acquaintance who failed to show before deciding to break into the house.

His ruthless break-in left the ‘bereft’ pensioner suffering with ‘nightmares’, while Filan said his actions had had a ‘huge impact on my conscience’ and ‘goes against everything I believe in’.

Filan carried out the offence on January 31 after having only been released from jail 17 days earlier after he was sentenced for burglary, fraud and criminal damage last year at Exeter Crown Court.

On that occasion staff at the Grand Hotel in Torquay were reportedly shocked to find Filan had set up home in the fifth-floor store room and used a neighbouring linen cupboard as his en-suite bathroom before he was busted and fled.

He had moved into the £155 a night hotel in October 2019 after being freed half way through another two-year five months sentence for burgling homes in Weston-super-Mare.

Filan, who has 17 alias names and has used six dates of birth, shot to prominence in 2013 when he was jailed for breaking into ex-Chelsea, Manchester United and Spurs boss Mourinho’s room at the Wyndham Grand Hotel in London and stealing £100,000 worth of his wife Matilde’s jewellery.

Back at court for his latest burglary sentencing, for the offence in January, represented his fourth time in court as a third strike burglar with a typical mandatory term of at least three years.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Filan broke into the house in Brockenhurst between 3pm and 6pm through a patio door before taking the items upstairs from the 80-year-old occupant who lived alone after her husband had gone into care.

‘(Filan) knew what he was looking for as only jewellery and watches were taken,’ prosecutor Martyn Booth said.

The defendant, who was spotted on CCTV close to the house just before the burglary, was also captured on camera the following day in a pawn shop in Waterlooville.

Nearly £900 of the jewellery items were later recovered by police, who turned up at an address in Waterlooville where Filan was staying in February and arrested him.

During his police interview Filan claimed he was ‘not involved’ in the burglary and had gone to Eastleigh after catching a train from Cosham to meet a man to ‘settle a debt’.

But Mr Booth said CCTV of Filan just before the Brockenhurst burglary revealed it was a ‘flimsy attempt to deny’ the offence.

Filan went on to admit the charge of burglary.

The prosecutor, speaking of the impact on the victim, said: ‘The victim’s husband is severely ill and living in a care home. She has chosen to keep the details (of the burglary) away from him and close family because he would be very upset.

‘Her husband would always take pleasure in buying these presents for her and she remembers times and places where he bought them.

‘She gets up in the morning and looks at the empty draws and feels bereft. The night after the burglary she had a nightmare at what could have happened if she had walked in the front door as (Filan) was coming down the stairs.

‘She has invested in security as a direct result of this offence.’

The victim, in a statement read out to court, said: ‘Since the burglary I feel very low and tearful. I did not expect this to happen in my life.’

Filan, of no fixed address, read out a statement to court in which he said he had ‘no knowledge of the victim’ and was ‘beside himself with guilt’.

‘I have no history of offences against vulnerable or elderly people and discovering the homeowner was 80 years of age has had a huge impact on my conscience,’ he said.

‘I despise people who prey on the elderly. Having realised the victim was elderly has caused me sleepless nights and nightmares as this goes against everything I believe in.’

Filan went on to say he travelled to Brockenhurst to collect money owed to him to pay off an existing debt amid threats he had received.

But the defendant said after waiting around near the station the man failed to show, forcing him to turn to his traditional modus operandi.

Filan, who confessed to previous drug and alcohol problems, said he had ‘no way of making his problem go away’ and carried out the spur of the moment burglary to ‘clear’ his debt.

He added: ‘I acted out of fear and desperation due to my personal circumstances.’

Filan said he had informed Hampshire police of threats against him and was fitted with a panic alarm.

Filan said he had ‘lost everything’ but that it was ‘important for me the victim gets all her jewellery back’.

SEE ALSO: Man attacked

The judge, Recorder Robin Sellers, said: ‘You broke in and stole jewellery worth £20,000. But the sentimental value was immeasurably more valuable to the lady.

‘She can’t bring herself to tell her husband what happened. You have darkened the later part of her life.’

He added: ‘You have an awful record for dishonesty. You are an inveterate burglar.’

Filan was then jailed for 40 months.

Filan, who has appeared in court 38 times for 95 different matters, has six dwelling burglary convictions and 20 non-dwelling burglaries to his name with additional like offences also taken into account.

He also has six thefts from dwelling house break-ins, eight frauds and two convictions for gaining property by deception, among his offences.