Man denies phone linked to Mark Cavendish robbery is his

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The only link between a man who is on trial accused of being involved in a knifepoint robbery at the home of Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish and the offence “is the phone that he denies is his”, a court heard.

Prosecutor Edward Renvoize said a balaclava-clad gang, armed with large knives, threatened Mr Cavendish and his wife Peta Cavendish and “meted out violence to Mark Cavendish in order to make him meet their demands”.

Mr Renvoize said the intruders took two high-value Richard Mille watches, worth a total of £700,000, in the raid at about 2.30am on November 27 2021 while the couple’s children were at home.

He said two people have “thus far been convicted of their involvement in the offences” at the home of the athlete and his wife in Ongar, Essex.

Another person, Jo Jobson, denies two counts of robbery and is on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

The 27-year-old, of no fixed address, is alleged to have taken a watch, two phones and a safe from Mark Cavendish and a watch, phone and a suitcase from Peta Cavendish.

Piers Mostyn, for Jobson, said in his defence closing speech on Friday: “The only link to this offence and the defendant is the phone that he denies is his.

“There’s no direct evidence that he had that phone.”

Prosecutors said photographs of Jo Jobson were issued by police by January 2022 indicating he was a suspect, and that he handed himself into Chelmsford Police Station on June 5 2023.

Mr Mostyn said: “A guilty person on the run wouldn’t just go into a police station like that.

“He felt able to present himself for that reason.”

He said that the “notion he would have known he was wanted doesn’t stack up”.

“He did turn up and he did hand himself in,” said Mr Mostyn.

He told jurors: “My submission to you is the right and proper verdict is not guilty.”

Mr Renvoize earlier told the trial that one of the intruders took Mrs Cavendish’s mobile phone and it was later found outside their property, which he said was a “significant error in what was an otherwise carefully executed plan”.

He said DNA recovered from the phone was attributed to Ali Sesay, and police then “traced a phone attributed to Mr Sesay”.

“It was from the communications data from that telephone belonging to Mr Sesay that police were able to identify a number of other telephone numbers that appear to have been involved in the offence.”

He said one such mobile phone number “has been attributed to” Jobson.

Judge Timothy Walker, in his summing up to jurors, said it was “accepted whoever was in possession of the … phone was involved in the robbery”.

“It’s disputed whether he was in possession of that phone on the night in question,” he said.

The judge sent jurors out to start their deliberations shortly after 1pm on Friday.

At 4.15pm he sent them away for the weekend, to return at 10am on Monday to continue their deliberations.