Fraudster skips sentencing over luggage head injury claim after pawning Edgar Davids art

Nabila Habiby, convicted of defrauding ex-Premier League star Edgar Davids of a £188,000 art collection, failed to appear at Wood Green Crown Court for sentencing.

Convicted fraudster absent from Wood Green Crown Court, citing concussion from airport luggage

Nabila Habiby, the wealth manager convicted of stealing and pawning ex-footballer Edgar Davids's £188,000 art collection, has failed to appear at Wood Green Crown Court for her sentencing hearing, claiming she was knocked unconscious by a piece of luggage at an airport, thesun.co.uk reports.

Defence barrister Hannah Thomas told the court she had received a message at around 9.30am on Friday morning. "On her way to the airport to come here she had been hit on the head by a piece of luggage en route," Thomas said. "She had a concussion, since she passed out, and was taken to the hospital where she remains on a drip."

Judge Emma Deacon KC said the medical evidence submitted from Belgium — where Habiby now lives — was "inadequate" to support the account. She nonetheless agreed to adjourn the sentencing hearing, and ruled that the original judge who oversaw the case when guilty pleas were entered should pass sentence. Habiby has been ordered to appear on 23 September and to submit a full medical report explaining Friday's absence.

Art taken while Davids moved home

The fraud dates to 2014, when Davids, 52, allowed Habiby to stay at his mansion in Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire, while he relocated to a central London flat. He believed she was looking after his possessions during the move and that his art was being stored at a unit in Enfield.

Over the following two years, between 2015 and 2016, Habiby removed 37 pieces from the property and took them to pawnbrokers. The works — by artists Paul Insect and Ron English, purchased by Davids from the Opera Gallery in New York between 2006 and 2012 — were used as collateral to secure £31,500 in loans.

Davids only discovered the theft when Habiby defaulted on those loans and the pawn shops began selling the art to collectors around the world. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax midfielder was alerted to the situation when one buyer contacted him to ask about the history of a painting.

Some of the works have since been recovered, but 25 pieces remain missing.

Multiple attempts to avoid sentence

Habiby pleaded guilty in September 2025 to two counts of fraud and was released on bail, with the court warning she could face up to 34 months in prison. Her first scheduled sentencing hearing collapsed after she made an unsuccessful attempt to withdraw those guilty pleas.

Friday's hearing marked the second attempt to sentence her. It is now close to five years since she was first charged following a Metropolitan Police investigation. The case has been relisted for later this month, with the judge's patience for further delays apparently limited.

Source: Sky News