Man guilty of robbing Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish and wife in knifepoint raid

The intruders took items including a Louis Vuitton suitcase and two Richard Mille watches with a combined value of £700,000

Mark Cavendish leaving Chelmsford Crown Court, Essex (PA)

A man has been found guilty of robbing Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish and his wife Peta during a knifepoint raid at their home.

Intruders wearing balaclavas broke into their home in Ongar, Essex at about 2.30am on 27 November 2021 and threatened to stab the athlete.

They took items including two Richard Mille watches with a combined value of £700,000 as well as phones and a Louis Vuitton suitcase.

During the trial, jurors were told that one suspect held a “Rambo-style” knife to the 37-year-old athlete’s throat.

Romario Henry, 31, of Bell Green, Lewisham, southeast London, denied two counts of robbery but was found guilty on both counts by a majority verdict of 10 jurors to two following 14 hours of deliberation at Chelmsford Crown Court.

His co-defendant Oludewa Okorosobo, 28, of Flaxman Road, Camberwell, south London, denied two counts of robbery and was cleared by the jury.

Mr Okorosobo, who had his head in his hands as he was found not guilty, had told jurors that he had been stabbed in the leg on 16 September 2021, months before the robbery.

He explained in a prepared statement to police in December 2021 that he was “unable to do any” of the alleged offences, and that “any human could see I’m incapable of doing this”.

Mr Okorosobo explained that he had loaned his mobile phone – which connected with telephone masts in the Ongar area on the night of the robbery – to a man who admitted to the robbery.

Mr Okorosobo said that he was not at the Cavendish household, adding that he was not in possession of his phone, but that he had let Ali Sesay, 28, of Holding Street in Rainham, Kent, who had already pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery at an earlier hearing, borrow it to use a navigation app.

Mark Cavendish and his wife Peta, pictured two months before the robbery, were attacked with a ‘Rambo-style’ knife (PA)

Henry, who showed no visible reaction when he was convicted, will be sentenced on 7 February with Sesay.

The court was told that Sesay’s DNA was discovered on the phone of Peta Cavendish, which was taken in the robbery but was later found outside the property.

Mark Cavendish, an Olympic medallist, was unable to activate a panic alarm during the robbery (Getty Images)

Ms Cavendish, who like her husband was naked at the time of the robbery, had revealed to jurors that she had heard a noise which had awoken her in the night and decided to go downstairs to investigate.

She explained that she could see “men’s figures in balaclavas, and they were running towards the bottom of the stairs”, and that she thought there were “between three and five” people.

She said that she ran back into the bedroom and shouted “get back” or “get in” to her husband, who was not able to activate a panic alarm.

She explained to the jury that one of the intruders had “dragged” Cavendish “from his feet and started punching him”.

One of them held her husband in a headlock, she explained, adding: “One of them held a large black knife to his throat and they said ‘where’s the watches’ and ‘do you want me to stab you?’”

She agreed with a suggestion that the knife was “Rambo-style”. In his evidence Mr Cavendish said it “wasn’t a knife you have in a kitchen”.

“It was black and had holes in it,” he said, adding: “It was a weapon.”

Ms Cavendish explained that at the time of the robbery her husband had been “out of hospital for four days maybe” following a cycling crash that had left him with three broken ribs and a tear to his left lung.

She said that after going downstairs once the intruders had left, she saw a patio door was smashed, and that Mr Cavendish had cut his feet on the glass.

Jurors were told that two further men, Jo Jobson, from Plaistow, east London, and George Goddard, from Loughton in Essex, have been named as suspects in the case but have not been apprehended.

Jobson was 25 and Goddard 26 at the time of a police appeal last March.

Outside court, Detective Inspector Tony Atkin of Essex Police made an appeal in front of cameras for Jobson and Goddard to hand themselves in, adding: “You can only hide for so long.”

He said: “Although I can’t go into significant detail, we are following a number of lines of inquiry in order to locate them.

“The actions we believe they are responsible for cannot go unpunished.”