Sir Mark Cavendish robbers must pay £750,000 missing watch cash or face six extra years in jail

ITV News

19-05-2025

Three men jailed for robbing Olympic cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish and his wife Peta at knifepoint have been ordered to pay more than £750,000 or face an extra six years in prison each.
The proceeds of crime order was made after it emerged two Richard Mille watches taken in the raid on the ex-rider's home in Ongar, Essex, were still missing.
Balaclava-wearing intruders broke in on 27 November 2021 as Mr Cavendish was asleep upstairs with his wife, an earlier trial at Chelmsford Crown Court was told.
Three men, who were each convicted and jailed in 2023 for their roles in the robbery, faced further court proceedings over the missing stolen goods.
Judge Alexander Mills gave a ruling at a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday.
He said that prosecutors set out the value of the stolen items, with Cavendish's Richard Mille watch valued at £400,000 and his wife's watch at £350,000.
He said Cavendish's two mobile phones were valued at £979 and £647, and his wife's stolen Louis Vuitton suitcase was £2,200 and her phone £699.
The judge said that the total value of the stolen goods at the time was £754,525.
He said he was satisfied the defendants were 'in it together' and had jointly obtained the total value of the property.
The watches were 'never located at the scene and have not been seen since' he said.
The judge said he 'did not accept it's inevitable they [the watches] were sold', adding that they were 'not depreciating goods but goods that act as a store of wealth'.
He ordered that the men pay the value of the stolen goods, £754,525, within three months or have a default period of six years added to their prison sentence.
The judge said that 'any defendant can pay off this order to relieve the others of the responsibility of doing so'.
Romario Henry, 34, of Bell Green, Lewisham, south-east London, and Ali Sesay, 30, of Holding Street, Rainham, Kent, were both convicted of two counts of robbery at Chelmsford Crown Court in 2023.
Henry, who was found guilty following a trial, was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Sesay, who admitted the offences, was jailed for 12 years.
Jo Jobson, 28, who was on the run at the time of the first trial, later handed himself in, and was found guilty in a separate trial at Chelmsford Crown Court later that year of two counts of robbery.
Jobson, of no fixed address, was sentenced at the same court to 15 years in prison for his role in the raid.
The charges were that the accused men robbed Sir Mark of a watch, phone and safe, and robbed his wife of a watch, phone and suitcase.
The judge said that a Mercedes-Benz car valued at £1,000 was seized from Sesay, and police seized £24,740 in cash from a property where Sesay had been living.
The judge said that an unspecified amount was seized from Jobson's NatWest account, while no assets attributed to Henry were seized.
He ordered that compensation be paid from these seized assets, of £1,897 to Sir Mark Cavendish, £3,359 to Peta Cavendish and the remainder to the watch company which leased the timepieces to them.