A balaclava-wearing raider punched Tour de France legend Mark Cavendish and threatened to “stab him up” in front of his children, a court heard yesterday.
Wife Peta, 36, also had a knife pointed at her as she tried to hide three-year-old son Casper under a duvet.
The gang took £700,000 ($A1.2m) of watches but one was caught after his DNA was found on Peta’s abandoned phone outside.
Four or five burglars raided the couple’s rural South Essex home but police have not identified all, and two are still at large.
Yesterday, prosecutor Edward Renvoize told Chelmsford crown court: “This was not a run-of-the-mill robbery by opportunist thieves.
“It was a well-orchestrated, well-executed, planned invasion of the home of a well-known individual with the intention to obtain high-value timepieces.
“The perpetrators had large knives and concealed their identities with balaclavas. They threatened the couple and meted out violence to Mark Cavendish to meet their demands.”
Romario Henry, 31, of Lewisham, South East London, and Oludewa Okorosobo, 28, of Camberwell, South London, deny being part of the 2.30am raid. A third man, Ali Sesay, 28, has admitted his role.
The court heard Olympian Mark, 37, and model Peta had been in bed with Casper on November 27, 2021.
Manx Missile Mark — the joint-highest stage winner in Tour de France history with 34 — was recovering from a collapsed lung and broken ribs from a crash so Peta got up to investigate a noise.
She thought her son Finnbar, 16, had got up and knocked something over.
But Mr Renvoize said: “As she began to go down the stairs, she became aware of people running towards her. She turned and ran back up, shouting for her husband to get into the bedroom.
“Mr Cavendish tried to find the panic alarm. As he did so, two of the assailants pounced on him and started punching him, demanding that he turn off the alarm.
“One produced a knife and threatened to ‘Stab him up’ in front of his children.
“Mrs Cavendish was understandably looking after her three-year-old child, keeping him under the duvet to stop him from seeing what was going on.”
The court heard Peta tried to call police on her mobile, but one intruder noticed and threatened her with a knife.
The robbers demanded to know where the watches were. When Mark pointed towards his £400,000 Richard Mille timepiece on the windowsill, the raider replied: “That’s not it.”
They found a small safe and ordered Mark to open it, but he was unable to because its batteries were dead. He was then “subjected to more violence”, the court heard.
The burglars eventually fled with his watch, and Peta’s £300,000 ($A530,000) Richard Mille plus the empty safe, three phones and a Louis Vuitton suitcase. None have been recovered.
Mark had managed to trigger the panic alarm. But by the time the private security company showed up the raiders had fled — using two getaway cars, the court heard.
When police arrived they found Peta’s phone, which had been snatched and abandoned outside.
Mr Renvoize said: “The misplacement of that phone was quite an error.” Forensic officers found DNA on it belonging to Sesay.
Jurors also heard phone records show mobiles belonging to Henry and Okorosobo were close to the house that night.
The court heard the gang knew specific watches they wanted when they broke in through a patio door.
The home had been raided a year earlier and many of the couple’s belongings had already been stolen.
Mr Renvoize said: “Police looked at phone data and were able to see the defendants travelled from a particular area of South London up to Essex and back almost immediately after the robbery.”
He added the two defendants do not deny the burglary took place, but deny they were involved in it.
Mr Renvoize added: “We cannot say we’ve identified each individual involved or what each did.
“Whether the individuals you are considering were the drivers or went into the property itself matters not — each had a specific role in this robbery.”
Mark and Peta have four children — Delilah, ten, Frey, seven, Casper, now four, and four-month-old Astrid.
She also has Finnbar from a previous relationship.
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
This story first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
