Two men in masked raid on Mark Cavendish still at large, court hears

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Two of the suspects wanted for a knifepoint raid at the home of the Olympic silver medallist Mark Cavendish have not been tracked down by police, a court heard.

The cyclist and his wife, Peta, were robbed by a masked gang, while one of their children was hidden under bed covers, Chelmsford crown court was told earlier in the trial.

Two men have denied two counts of robbery, while the jury heard a third man admitted both counts at an earlier hearing, in relation to the raid in the Ongar area of Essex in the early hours of 27 November 2021.

Police have still to locate two other men, Jo Jobson and George Goddard, suspected of being involved in the attack.

Edward Renvoize, the prosecutor, said masked intruders armed with knives broke into Cavendish’s home as he slept upstairs with Peta and their three-year-old child also in the bed.

He said Cavendish was punched and one of the raiders threatened to stab him, before the gang made off with items including two Richard Mille watches, valued at ?400,000 and ?300,000.

Renvoize said Ali Sesay, 28, of Rainham, east London, who pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery at an earlier hearing, “managed to leave his DNA on the phone of Peta Cavendish”, which was found outside the property.

“Police began examining communications made by Mr Sesay’s telephone and from that, the prosecution say, it was possible to identify individuals who had been in touch with Mr Sesay,” he said. “And by further investigation, where those phones attributed to other individuals had been, where they had travelled to and where they had come back to.”

DC Brian Eagling, the officer in the case, said it had not been possible to locate Jobson and Goddard, and that that investigations to find them were “sensitive”.

Renvoize told jurors: “Although they haven’t been apprehended by police, the prosecution say it’s quite clear from the evidence that they were involved, but of course you are not being asked to return verdicts upon them.”

Romario Henry, 31, of Lewisham, south-east London, and 28-year-old Oludewa Okorosobo, of Camberwell, south London, both deny two counts of robbery.

Okorosobo was arrested at an address in Croydon along with Sesay on 16 December 2021, the court heard. Henry was arrested two days later and refused to answer any police questions, the court heard.

The trial continues.