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Mark Cavendish was held at knife-point during a break-in at his home, a court has heard
Olympic Cyclist Mark Cavendish described in court how an intruder wearing a balaclava held a knife to his face before the raiders took two high-value watches belonging to him and his wife.
Burglars broke into Cavendish’s home while he was sleeping upstairs with his wife Peta on November 27, 2021, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
Prosecutors said the thefts included two Richard Mille watches worth £400,000 and £300,000.
Romario Henry, 31, of Bell Green, Lewisham, south-east London and Oludewa Okorosobo, 28, of Flaxman Road, Camberwell, south London, both deny two counts of robbery.
They were accused of robbing Cavendish of his watch, phone and safe and his wife’s watch, phone and suitcase.
Cavendish, giving evidence in court, said he woke up from the noise and his wife Peta Cavendish went to investigate.
“I woke up following him out (of the bedroom) and when I left the room when he started going up (the stairs) again,” he said, wearing a blue jumper and a white shirt.
“He shouted ‘come in’.
“There is a figure close to him.”
He said he tried to press the panic alarm but did not manage to do it in the dark, and he was jumped by the intruder who started punching him in the head.
“One grabbed me and the other pulled out a knife and just held it to my face,” Cavendish said.
“It’s not a knife you have in the kitchen.
“It’s black and has holes in it.
“It’s a weapon.”
A court artist’s sketch by Elizabeth Cook of the Cavendish Map giving evidence, watched by Judge David Turner, at Chelmsford Crown Court
Peta Cavendish, giving evidence in court, said she “heard a noise that woke me up” in the night and went downstairs to investigate, adding she was “naked” at the time.
“When I was a few steps down the stairs I heard someone talking but it was still dark,” said Mrs Cavendish.
He said he could see “a male figure in balaclavas, and he was walking towards the bottom of the stairs”.
“I know there are between three and five, I know there are more than a couple but I won’t be able to say exactly how many. [people there were]” said Mrs. Cavendish.
Asked by prosecutor Edward Renvoize how he felt when he saw the men in the balaclavas, he told jurors: “It’s just everybody’s nightmare.”
He said he ran up the stairs “as fast as I could and I was shouting things like ‘go back’ or ‘get in’ to Mark”.
He said one of the intruders “dragged” Cavendish “off his feet and started punching him”.
“One of the guys then got him in a headlock,” he said.
“One of them held a big black knife to his throat and they said ‘where’s the watch’ and ‘do you want me to stab you?’.”
He agrees with Mr. Renvoize which appears to be a Rambo style knife.
“He’s very specific about watches,” he said.
“I tried to explain that we were actually broken into several years ago, everything was taken.”
Mrs Cavendish said her husband showed the intruders where the safe was.
“It has a battery operated PIN, nothing, it’s not used so the battery is dead,” he said.
“It’s getting more and more confusing because we’re not getting what we want.
“He kept saying ‘there must be cash, there must be jewellery.’
She said her husband had been “out of the hospital for four days” at the time after a cycling accident that left him with three broken ribs and a ruptured left lung.
She said she grabbed her phone, which fell from the bedside counter into an open drawer, but was found by one of the intruders.
“Someone on the landing who I don’t know is shouting ‘he’s got a phone, he’s got a phone’,” he said.
“One of the men said ‘give me the phone, are you calling the police’.”
He said he threw the phone behind the bed.
He said the intruders took a £400,000 Richard Mille “Mark raced in” watch, which had a blue strap, and left it on the windowsill.
“It wasn’t picked up at first but they picked it up,” he said.
He said he also took a £300,000 Richard Mille watch which was on the bedside table.
He said the bedroom was “up” and when he left, Cavendish pressed the panic alarm to alert the private security company and the police.
He said when he came down, he saw the patio door had been smashed, and Cavendish had cut his foot on the broken glass.
She said the intruders did not take her engagement ring or wedding ring or necklace, despite the intruders saying “show me your hand, it’s like I’m wearing a watch”.
Cavendish has been out of hospital for days after a cycling accident that left him with three broken ribs and a lacerated left lung.
Mrs Cavendish said the intruders were wearing “dark clothing, possibly sweatpants and gloves”.
“Definitely one of them had a knife, the one who took my phone must have been black,” she said.
“Of course one of them must be white.
“I think the other one is white.
“I think the man on the landing is black.”
He agreed with Shahid Rashid, for Okorosobo, that the situation was “hectic” and “frantic”.
Ali Sesay, 28, of Holding Street, Rainham, Kent, admitted two counts of robbery at a previous hearing, and a previous trial against the DNA found on Peta Cavendish’s phone, which was taken and found outside the property.
Two other men, Jo Jobson and George Goddard, have been named as suspects in the case but have not yet been arrested by police.
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