Mark Cavendish robbery: Man guilty of armed raid at cyclist's home

One man has been found guilty of a knifepoint robbery at the family home of elite cyclist Mark Cavendish.

Romario Henry, 31, of Bell Green in Lewisham, south-east London, broke into Mr Cavendish's home in Ongar, Essex, on 27 November 2021.

Henry was found guilty of two counts of robbery and will be sentenced on 7 February.

Oludewa Okorosobo, 28, of Flaxman Road, Camberwell, south London, was found not guilty by the same jury.

Henry was convicted by a majority verdict of 10 jurors to two, following 14 hours and 35 minutes of deliberation at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Ali Sesay, 28 of Holding Street in Rainham, Kent, had already pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery at an earlier hearing.

Jurors were told how a group of masked intruders made off with two Richard Mille watches, worth a combined £700,000, as well as phones and a Louis Vuitton suitcase.

Prosecutors said Mr Cavendish and wife Peta were in bed with their three-year-old child when they heard "male voices" from downstairs.

Mrs Cavendish said her husband, who had been out of hospital for about four days after breaking his ribs in a cycling crash, was "dragged" from his feet by the intruders who then "started punching him".

"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 told the court, describing it as a "Rambo-style" knife.

She said she covered her child with a duvet so they could not witness the robbery.

She said they took her husband's £400,000 Richard Mille watch, which he wore racing, from a windowsill and her bespoke one-of-a-kind £300,000 Richard Mille watch from a bedside table.

The 37-year-old athlete, who jointly holds the record for most stage wins in the Tour de France, was a brand ambassador for the designer.

The couple later found the downstairs patio door smashed and called police at 02:35 GMT.

Detectives said they found Mrs Cavendish's mobile phone was left outside the home, with Sesay's DNA on it.

Henry, giving evidence, admitted being in the Mercedes Benz that travelled from London to Ongar, but claimed he was "out of it" after taking drugs and was not aware of a crime being committed.

Mr Okorosobo said in a prepared statement to police that he was "unable to do any" of the alleged offences, and that "any human could see I'm incapable of doing this", having been stabbed in the leg in September 2021

He said he had loaned his mobile phone to Sesay, before it connected that night with cell masts in the Ongar area.

Mr Okorosobo - who told the court he previously worked as a delivery driver, in hospitality at the Olympic Stadium in 2012 and as a personal trainer - held his head in his hands when he was found not guilty.

Henry showed no visible reaction.

In a statement after the court hearing, Mr and Mrs Cavendish said "reliving" the experience had been "incredibly difficult".

"What happened that night is something that no family should ever have to go through," they said.

"Although nothing can ever erase what our family went through, there is now some comfort that two men who broke into our family home and stole from us, assaulted Mark and terrified our children, are now convicted and will be facing what we hope will be an appropriate sentence for their actions and we hope moves some steps in preventing this horror happening to another innocent family."

Two further men, Jo Jobson, from Plaistow, east London, and George Goddard, from Loughton in Essex, were named as suspects during the trial but have yet to be apprehended.

Speaking after the trial, Det Insp Tony Atkin said his team at Loughton CID would "not stop" looking for Mr Jobson and Mr Goddard.

"Although I can't go into significant detail, we are following a number of lines of inquiry in order to locate them," he said.

"To Jobson and to Goddard, I say this - we will pursue you. It is in your interests to hand yourselves in. You can only hide for so long."

Mr Cavendish, who hails from the Isle of Man, was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2011.

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