Raiders smashed their way into Mark Cavendish's family home in Essex, attacked him and threatened to stab him in front of his wife and children unless he led them to specific watches they wanted to steal. The fact he had one of the watches was well publicised as he had worn it while racing, generating a number of media stories.
The raiders eventually left the house in Ongar, Essex, in November, 2021, after minutes, taking the watches and other items valued at €700,000, or €800,000. New details about the case, and the extent of the violence and threats Cavendish and his wife, Peta, were subjected to have emerged during the opening sessions of the trial of two men accused of the robbery. Mrs Cavendish managed to hide her 3-year-old child under a duvet so he would not witness the attack, which was described as well planned.
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The trial of the two men has heard details of two cars, one with cloned number plates, traveling in convoy to the Cavendish home. The masked and armed gang terrorised the family and subjected Mark Cavendish to a group assault just days after he was discharged from intensive care. It is the prosecution's case that a mistake by the gang identified one of the men - who has already pleaded guilty - through DNA. It is alleged once that man was identified, his phone data was used by the police to identify other men also suspected of being involved in the crime.
It is alleged five men made up the robbery gang, including the two suspects before the court this week. A third man has already entered a guilty plea, and so is not on trial. Two other suspected raiders, who have been identified, remain at large and efforts to locate them are continuing.
Romario Henry (31), Lewisham, and Oludewa Okorosobo (28), Camberwell, are on trial for two counts of robbery, which they deny. Their trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, which opened yesterday and continued today, was expected to last two weeks.
The trial has heard Cavendish (37) and his wife, Peta (36) were in bed with their child, aged three years, when they were woken by noise coming from downstairs at about 2.30am on November 27th, 2021. At the time, Cavendish was recovering from a bad crash just days earlier at the Gent Six Day, during which he broke his ribs.
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As he was injured, and because the couple did not initially know what the noise was, Peta Cavendish went to investigate. The court was told she then immediately saw a number of men - wearing balaclavas and carrying knives - running towards her. She ran back upstairs and into the bedroom and shouted to her husband. As Cavendish looked for a panic alarm in the bedroom, up to three burglars jumped on him and punched him, demanding the alarm be disabled.
“One produced a knife and threatened to stab him up in front of his children. At this point there were three in the room and they began asking where the watches were," said barrister Edward Renvoize, for the prosecution. “It’s quite clear the assailants were interested in obtaining watches and once they got the watches they left the premises with very little else."
The court also heard the raiders gathered up the mobile phones in the bedroom, including the phone that Mrs Cavendish had tried to use to call the police. The raiders then demanded a safe in the room be opened, but Cavendish could not open it as the battery had gone dead. He also told the raiders it was empty as its contents were taken in another burglary a year earlier.
One of the raiders then demanded Cavendish's watch and when the 34-time Tour de France stage winner pointed to a watch in the room - a Richard Mille valued at £400,000 - the raider told him: "That's not it".
However, the men took the watch, and another Richard Mille belonging to Mrs Cavendish valued at £300,000. They then demanded the gates be opened before leaving. As well as the watches valued at £700,000, they also took the safe and a Louis Vuitton suitcase from the property. The court was told they had smashed their way into the house through a patio door and had carried out surveillance outside the house just before the attack.
Prosecuting barrister Mr Renvoize told the court that Mrs Cavendish's phone was found outside the house, after being left there in what he called an "error" in an otherwise "carefully planned and executed robbery". When that phone was examined, DNA was found on it linking it to the man who has already pleased guilty and who is not on trial at present. That man will be sentenced when the trial of the other two men currently before the court is concluded.
Once the man who has pleaded guilty was identified, police were able to study his telephone traffic and determine who he had been in contact before the robbery. The court was told street cameras tracked a Mercedes Benz travelling from Croydon to the Cavendish home before the attack, with a Mitsubishi Outlander, fitted with cloned number plates, traveling in convoy. It is also alleged that other physical evidence gathered by the police strongly suggests the two other men still being sought were also involved.
