Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish described in court how a balaclava-wearing intruder held a knife to his face before raiders took two high-value watches belonging to him and his wife.
The masked men broke into Cavendish’s home as he was asleep upstairs with his wife Peta on November 27, 2021, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.
Prosecutors say they stole items including two Richard Mille watches valued at £400,000 and £300,000.
Rosario Henry, 31, of Bell Green, Lewisham, south-east London and Slideways Oloroso o, of Flaxman Road, Camberwell, south London, both deny two counts of robbery.
They are accused of robbing Cavendish of a watch, phone and safe, and to robbing the athlete’s wife of a watch, phone and suitcase.
Cavendish, giving evidence in court, said he woke to the sound of voices and that his wife Peta Cavendish went to investigate.
“I got up to follow her out (of the bedroom) and as I was stepping out of the room is when she started to come back up (the stairs),” he said, wearing a blue jumper and white-collared shirt.
He said he had tried to press a panic alarm but did not manage to do so in the dark, and he was jumped on by an intruder who started to punch him in the head.
“One held me and another pulled out a knife and just held it in my face,” said Cavendish.
Peta Cavendish, giving evidence in court, said she “heard a noise that woke me” in the night and went downstairs to investigate, adding that she was “naked” at the time.
Cavendish told the court he was also naked when the intruders broke in.
“As I got a few steps down the stairs I could hear men speaking but it was still dark,” said Mrs Cavendish, who wore a black jumper and blazer, with her dark hair in a ponytail.
She said she could see “men’s figures in balaclavas, and they were running towards the bottom of the stairs”.
“I know there were between three and five, I know there were more than a couple but I wouldn’t have been able to say exactly how many (people there were),” Mrs Cavendish said.
Asked by prosecutor Edward Re voice how she felt when she saw the men in balaclavas, she told jurors: “It was just everyone’s worst nightmare.”
She said she ran up the stairs “as quickly as I could and I shouted something like ‘get back’ or ‘get in’ to Mark”.
She said that one of the intruders “dragged” Cavendish “from his feet and started punching him”.
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