Robbers “jumped on” Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish and one “threatened to stab him in front of his children” during a raid at his home, a court has heard.
The intruders “armed with large knives” left with two Richard Mille watches, valued at £400,000 and £300,000 respectively, during the 2021 raid in the Ongar area of Essex, Chelmsford Crown Court was told.
Opening the prosecution case, Edward Renvoize said some of the raiders “jumped on” Cavendish and “one produced a knife and threatened to stab him up in front of his children” on 27 November 2021.
Mr Renvoize said Cavendish and his wife Peta were in bed with their three-year-old child when they were woken up by noise.
He said the pair were “subjected to a knifepoint robbery in their home at about 2.30 in the morning”, adding that the “robbers were armed with large knives” and “concealed their identity with balaclavas”.
The couple thought the noise was “male voices and people walking around in the house”, adding that at first Mrs Cavendish thought her older son may have gotten up and “knocked something over downstairs”.
Due to Mr Cavendish recovering from a “number of injuries”, Mr Renvoize said Mrs Cavendish “investigated” the noise and was “aware of figures of people running towards her”.
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He said she ran back up the stairs and shouted for her husband to get back into the bedroom.
Raiders ‘punched’ Cavendish and ‘told him to turn alarm off’
Mr Renvoize said Mrs Cavendish and Cavendish looked for a “panic alarm that he had” in the bedroom, adding that some of the raiders “jumped on” him and “began punching him and telling him to turn the alarm off”.
“One produced a knife and threatened to stab him up in front of his children,” said the prosecutor.
“At this point there were three in the room and they began asking where the watches were.”
The prosecutor said “the assailants collected all the telephones from the bedroom”, adding that Mrs Cavendish believes “one of the men put her phone into his pocket”.
Mr Renvoize said Peta was “asked for the watch” and Cavendish “pointed to his watch on the windowsill”.
Intruder seen with Louis Vuitton suitcase
“One of the intruders said ‘that’s not it’,” said the prosecutor, who added that it was a Richard Mille watched valued at £400,000 and that Mrs Cavendish’s watch was also taken.
She recalled one of the intruders coming into the bedroom with a Louis Vuitton suitcase, the prosecutor said.
Mr Renvoize said it appeared that the intruders had left by 2.32am and added that before the raid CCTV cameras had captured cars driving past the home in what “appeared to be a reconnaissance mission” of the location.
He said a vehicle then pulled up and turned off the lights and “four individuals” were seen on camera making their way closer into the property.
The prosecutor said Mrs Cavendish’s phone was found outside the property and that a “contact mark” was later “forensically examined” and DNA was recorded.
Mr Renvoize said the DNA was attributed to Ali Sesay, 28, and told jurors Sesay had “already pleaded guilty to the offence of robbery already.”
Romario Henry, 31 and 28-year-old Oludewa Okorosobo both deny two counts of robbery and are on trial. They are accused of robbing Cavendish of a watch, phone and safe, and of robbing the athlete’s wife of a watch, phone and suitcase.
Mr Renvoize said jurors will hear details about two more men during the trial, Jo Jobson and George Goddard.
The trial continues.
