A third man has been found guilty of robbing Mark Cavendish and his wife Peta of watches worth £700,000 at knifepoint in November 2021.
The couple were threatened at their Essex home by a gang armed with large knives on the night of November 27 with their children also in the house at the time of the robbery.
The BBC reported that Jo Jobson, 27, has been found guilty of two counts of robbery by a jury and will be sentenced on Wednesday, with two men already jailed for their involvement in the violent crime.
In February this year, Romario Henry, 31, and Ali Sesay, 28, were both found guilty on two counts of robbery and jailed for 15 and 12 years respectively.
Jobson was arrested after he handed himself in to Chelmsford police in June, 18 months after officers first issued a photo appeal identifying him as a suspect.
The 27-year-old, of no fixed address, reportedly appeared to shake his head as the unanimous guilty verdicts were returned at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Edward Renvoize, prosecuting, said the gang threatened the couple and “meted out violence to Mark Cavendish” during the 2.30am raid, which took place while the couple’s children were at home on 27 November 2021.
He read a statement from Peta Cavendish in which she said an intruder told her husband, “Do you want me to stab you up in front of your kid?”
The prosecutor described the robbery as a “well-orchestrated and executed, planned invasion of a home of well-known individuals with the intention of grabbing high-value timepieces”.
However, there was a “significant error in what was an otherwise carefully-executed plan” by the gang, as they left Peta Cavendish’s phone outside the property after it was initially stolen by one of the intruders.
Police recovered DNA from that phone attributed to Sesay, one of the men already jailed, and then traced a phone attributed to him. They then reportedly used communications data from that telephone to identify other telephone numbers including that of Jobson.
Judge Timothy Walker stated it was disputed whether Jobson was in possession of the phone after the jurors were relayed the information, as his defence denied claims it was his last Friday. They started their deliberations shortly after this before reaching the eventual guilty verdict on Monday 30 October.
The BBC reported that Jobson said “thank you” after the verdict was reached, before being led from the dock of Chelmsford Crown Court to the cells.
Essex Police Detective Chief Inspector Tony Atkin described Jobson’s guilty verdict as “a significant milestone in this investigation” after an arduous 19 months of pursuing the 27-year-old.
“In June this year, he was arrested. He believed he could evade justice, but he was wrong,” said Atkin after the case. “I said many times throughout this investigation that we would not stop looking for him.”
Atkin went on to describe a fourth suspect as the key to concluding the case fully after Jobson’s guilty verdict and urged him to hand himself in.
“Jobson’s conviction leaves just one final piece of the jigsaw – and that is George Goddard,” said Atkin.
“Goddard remains outstanding and we are continuing our efforts to locate him and I would reiterate my message to him; you cannot stay hidden forever; those who may be helping you cannot help you forever. It is in your best interests to come forward.”
Peta Cavendish reportedly fought back tears during Henry and Sesay’s sentencing in February and stated that the robbery had “turned a loving family home into a constant reminder of threat and fear”.
Speaking outside the court after sentencing, she said: “No family should ever have to go through what we went through and I’m glad that two of the people have been sent to jail today for significant periods of time.
“But no matter what the sentence was, any parent will understand, I’m sure, that no time in prison could make up for what they did to us that night.”
Mark Cavendish recently postponed his retirement and renewed his time with Astana Qazaqstan to target a record-breaking 35th Tour de France stage victory. He was at the route reveal for the 2024 race in Paris and said “It might be the hardest route I’ve ever seen at the Tour de France.”
