Football Legend Edgar Davids gets robbed of property worth £188,000 by his ex-girlfriend

Dutch football legend Edgar Davids had his £188,000 art collection stolen by a close friend, only discovering the crime when a buyer contacted him on Instagram.

Davids, 52, had entrusted Nabila Habiby, 38, to look after his possessions after relocating to central London in 2014. Instead, she used 37 pieces of art to secure loans worth £31,500, later defaulting and causing pawn brokers to auction off the works worldwide.

Davids believed the collection, including works by Paul Insect and Ron English, was safely stored in Enfield. In 2017, he was alerted when a Hong Kong buyer messaged him after spotting his name on a Paul Insect piece. Shocked, Davids reported the theft to police.

Only 11 paintings have been recovered, with 25 still missing. Prosecutors said Davids had an “emotional connection” to the art, much of it bought from New York’s Opera Gallery between 2006 and 2012.

Habiby, who once lived with Davids and had keys to his home, first pawned two “B¥rning Man” works in 2014 for a £7,000 loan. In 2016, she raided the storage unit again, pawning another 33 Paul Insect works and two Ron English pieces for £24,500.

Prosecutor Mark Seymour said she forged invoices and gallery paperwork, adding she “had no intention of paying back the loans.”

By 2018, Habiby denied all allegations, claiming she worked as a consultant with a steady income. After leaving the UK, she was extradited from Belgium in 2022. She also faced a separate fra¥d charge for using another friend’s bank card to pay nearly £3,000 rent in Knightsbridge.

This week, Habiby pleaded guilty to two counts of fra¥d. Judge Alexander Jacobs warned her she faces up to 34 months in prison, saying, “There was an ab¥se of position, power, trust, and responsibility.” She remains on bail until sentencing in November.

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