A fraudster who pawned an £188,000 modern art collection belonging to former Premier League player Edgar Davids failed to appear in court for sentencing after alleging she was struck with a bag while travelling to the airport.

Nabila Habiby, 39, secured £31,500 in financial loans by surrendering 37 paintings and works of art belonging to Davids, after the former Tottenham midfielder had trusted her to put his items into storage during a house move.

He only discovered that his collection had gone when Habiby defaulted on her repayments, causing pawn shops to sell the artwork to international buyers, after one of them reached out to him to ask about a specific painting's background.

Habiby admitted two charges of fraud in September 2025 and was released on court bail, having been cautioned that she could face a sentence of up to 34 months behind bars.

But more than a year later, she still has not been sentenced.

Her case was listed for sentence on Friday but Habiby was absent from the dock at Wood Green Crown Court.

It follows a previous attempt to sentence her in March, which was derailed when she made a failed bid to withdraw her guilty pleas.

On Friday, her case was listed for sentence again, but Habiby was absent from the dock at Wood Green Crown Court.

“I received correspondence this morning from my solicitor, at around 9.30am, saying on her way to the airport to come here she had been hit on the head by a piece of luggage en route,” said defence barrister Hannah Thomas.

“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 she had been handed “inadequate” medical evidence from Belgium, where Habiby now lives, to support her story.

But the judge agreed to adjourn the sentencing hearing anyway, so that the original judge who oversaw the case when guilty pleas were entered could pass sentence.

It is now almost five years since Habiby was first charged after a Metropolitan Police investigation, over fraud offences that date back to 2015 and 2016.

The court heard Davids handed Habiby, a wealth manager, the keys to his home in Hadley Wood, Hertfordshire, when he was moving to an apartment in central London in December 2014.

Some of the paintings have since been recovered, but 25 works of art are gone.

Habiby has been ordered to come to court on September 23 to be sentenced. She has also been told to provide a full medical report to back up her absence from court on Friday.