A Lewisham thief jailed for his role in a knifepoint robbery of Olympic cyclist Sir Mark Cavendish and his wife Peta is among a trio in a criminal gang who have been ordered to pay back more than £750,000, said to be the value of two stolen high-value watches that are still missing, or face an extra six years in prison each.
Romario Henry, 34, of Bell Green, Lewisham, was one of the balaclava-wearing intruders who broke into the athlete’s home in Ongar, Essex, as he was asleep upstairs with his wife, an earlier trial at Chelmsford Crown Court was told. Two Richard Mille watches were among the items taken in the raid at about 2.30am on November 27, 2021.
The three men, who were each convicted and jailed in 2023 for their roles in the robbery, faced further court proceedings over the stolen goods which are still missing. 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 Sir Mark’s Richard Mille watch valued at £400,000 and his wife’s watch at £350,000. He said Sir Mark’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”.
Henry and Ali Sesay, 30, of Holding Street, Rainham, in 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, £3,359 to Peta Cavendish and the remainder to the watch company.
Prosecutor Edward Renvoize said that the “losers of the value of the watches are in fact the (watch) company”. The judge said that Sesay, Henry and Jobson can on application ask that an extension be considered to the three-month period in which the £754,525 must be paid.
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