Acton Beautician Says She was Duped into Spying for Russia
Vanya Gaberova claims she believed she was helping Interpol
Vanya Gaberova following her arrest in 2023. Picture: Met Police
February 6, 2025
A woman who ran a beauticians on Churchfield Road has told the court at the Old Bailey that she had been duped into spying for Russia.
30-year-old Bulgarian national Vanya Gaberova, who ran the Pretty Woman salon, says that her sometime boyfriend 43-year-old Biser Dzhambazov had persuaded to work for him on overseas surveillance missions after he showed her a card indicating that he was employed by Interpol.
Earlier in the trial, she had told the court that, when she was younger, she had dreamt of working for the police but couldn’t afford to get the necessary qualifications and trained as an accountant instead. Dzhambazov had told her that he could arrange for her to attend college in Wembley which would enable her to take examinations which would make her eligible for a career with the police.
Dzhambazov has since admitted that they were part of a group engaged by the Russian security services to gather information on its behalf, but Ms Gaberova says that the first she was aware of this was when police burst into her flat when they were naked in bed together on 8 February 2023. When this happened, she turned to him and said “What have you done?”.
Dzhambazov had previously lied to her about having brain cancer and splitting up with his partner, 33-year-old Katrin Ivanova who was also part of the group, but Ms Gaberova insists she still believed his story about working for a legitimate police agency.
Vanya Gaberova. Picture: Vanya Gaberova/Facebook
The barrister for her previous boyfriend, 39-year-old Acton resident, Tihomir Ivanchev, accused Ms Gaberova of being obsessed with Dzhambazov and entangling him in the espionage operation. Ivanchev, who was a painter and decorator, had took out a loan to allow Ms Gaberova to take on the lease of the Acton salon and he decorated the shop for her. He was left ‘heartbroken’ when she began a relationship with Dzhambazov.
The fake Interpol card Gaberova was shown by Dzhambazov. Picture: Met Police
Although she described Dzhambazov as ‘ugly’, the work he got members of the group to do involved staying at a five-star hotels, taking trips to Valencia, Vienna and Montenegro and eating at Michelin star restaurants. All the time this was happening, she claims she believed it was part of a lawful investigation. According to her, Dzhambazov had said one of the targets of the group’s surveillance, Christo Grozev, was corrupt and that she never followed him and only ever saw him at breakfast in the hotel. Grozev, was a journalist who worked for Bellingcat and had helped uncover the identity of the two Russian men responsible for the Salisbury Novichok poisonings.
Katrin Ivanova also claimed in her defence that she was unaware of the identity of the people she was being asked to monitor including Grozev. The prosecution cast doubt on this saying that she had been in a relationship for 17 years with Dzhambazov and he had paid for the deposit on her house.
Pretty Woman on Churchfield Road. Picture: Google Streetview
Gaberova, Ivanova and Ivanchev are accused of working as Russian agents between August 30 2020 and February 8 2023 along with Ivan Stoyanov, charges which they all deny. Dzhambazov, and Orlin Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, have already pleaded guilty.
The trial continues.
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