Radu Dogaru (41) and Adrian Alempi (34) have been convicted in the United Kingdom after breaking into the £10 million villa of Mark Baker, one of the creators of the Peppa Pig cartoon. The two entered through an upstairs window, stole designer bags, a Rolex watch and jewellery, and three days later committed a second burglary. Alempi received five years in prison, Dogaru four. Both have a history connected to the theft of seven paintings by Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, Matisse, Meyer de Haan and Lucian Freud from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam in 2012.

(Staff: United Kingdom & Romania / Justice & Crime)

Two Romanian citizens, Radu Dogaru (41) and Adrian Alempi (34), were convicted in the UK this week for breaking into the villa of Mark Baker, one of the creators of the famous Peppa Pig cartoon. According to information published by Daily Mail and reported by the Romanian press, the burglary took place on 14 February 2026 in Surrey, on the outskirts of London.

How the burglary happened

Mark Baker and his wife left home at around 19:00, locking the doors but failing to activate the alarm system correctly. When they returned at 20:30, they found the house had been burgled. The thieves entered and left through a first-floor window. 15 designer bags, a Rolex watch and several pieces of jewellery were taken. CCTV later captured the two men at Claygate station, carrying a Louis Vuitton suitcase.

The victim’s wife was left traumatised

Judge Joanne Cecil told the court that Mark Baker’s wife was deeply affected by the incident. She no longer wanted to leave the house for fear of returning to find it burgled again, and has kept the alarm switched on permanently ever since. At one point, she was so frightened that she mistook her own husband for a burglar.

Second burglary and arrest

Police identified the two men and placed them under surveillance. Three days later, Dogaru and Alempi broke into another home in south-west London. The owner was away in Hungary but received a security-system alert on his phone. The burglars forced open a safe containing gold bars, jewellery, cash and passports. They were later arrested as they were boarding a bus, and police found several items stolen from Mark Baker’s villa at Dogaru’s home.

Criminal past: the Rotterdam art theft

The two men are not facing the law for the first time. Dogaru and Alempi, also known as Adrian Procop, had previously been imprisoned in the Netherlands for their role in one of the world’s major art thefts. In October 2012, a group they were part of stole, in less than three minutes, seven paintings by Picasso, Monet, Gauguin, Matisse, Meyer de Haan and Lucian Freud from the Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam. The works were insured for $24.4 million, and most of them have never been recovered. Dogaru was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for that theft in November 2013.

Sentences handed down

Both men pleaded guilty to two counts of burglary. Alempi also pleaded guilty to illegally entering the UK on 13 February, one day before the Surrey burglary, thereby breaching a deportation order issued against him.

• Adrian Alempi received five years in prison.
• Radu Dogaru received four years in prison.
• A third member of the group, Alexandru Tepelus (33), received a suspended sentence and 200 hours of community service after admitting that he concealed stolen property from a separate burglary committed in 2024 at the home of another victim in Kingston. Dogaru and Alempi were not charged in that case.

What happens next

After serving their sentences, the fate of the two men will be decided by the UK immigration authorities, who will determine whether they are to be deported to Romania.