‘£2m jewels raid terror’ of Green stepson’s wife
A BURGLAR stole £2million of jewellery from the home of Sir Philip Green’s stepson while armed with a pair of wire cutters, a court heard yesterday.
Robert Lewis, 41, allegedly broke in to Brett Palos’s house and threatened his wife Magda, who was wearing only a towel having just stepped out of the shower.
Mrs Palos, 37, was at home with two of the couple’s three young children when Lewis struck in December 2016, a jury was told.
She was subjected to a terrifying 10-minute ordeal as Lewis ordered her to hand over the valuables, Harrow Crown Court in north-west London heard.
He is said to have forced her to identify valuable items of jewellery before loading them into her husband’s briefcase. He allegedly told her not to move for 10 minutes as he fled. It is claimed he had forced open a window on the ground floor of the property, at the end of a private, gated street in St John’s Wood, north London.
Mrs Palos later picked Lewis out of an identity parade, while a full-match profile of his DNA was found around the damaged window frame, jurors heard.
Lewis, of Paddington, west London, denies one count of burglary, one count of aggravated burglary and one of robbery, claiming mistaken identity.
Mr Palos is the son of billionaire businessman Sir Philip’s wife Lady Christina Green and her first husband, Robert Palos.
He is a property developer and also sits on the board of Sir Philip’s Arcadia Group, which owns brands including Topshop and Miss Selfridge.
The trial continues.