Cowell ‘feared for son’ when burglar broke into his home

SIMON COWELL has told a court of his fear for his toddler son when a burglar broke into his home and ransacked an open safe to steal nearly £1 million worth of jewellery.

The music mogul’s four-storey, fivebedroom house in Holland Park, west London, was targeted by Darren February, a serial burglar, a court heard.

Among the items taken were a diamond ring estimated to be valued at half a million pounds, watches said to be worth £200,000, earrings valued at £220,000 and a diamond bracelet said to be worth £50,000, the court was told. The jewellery taken was worth well above one million dollars, an amount the jury was told equated to about £950,000.

At the time of the break-in at 1.30am on Dec 4 2015, Cowell was asleep in his bedroom with his partner, Lauren Silverman.

He described in a statement read to the court how he was woken by his se- curity guard, who told him about the break-in. Cowell said he immediately asked about his son Eric, who was also in the property with his nanny, and was “very concerned” about his welfare.

In his account of what happened, Cowell said: “[The security guard] said there had been an incident in the property, that we had been robbed and that we should stay in the room.

“Lauren and myself then asked about my son, and we were very concerned about making sure he was all right.”

Explaining why the safe was left open, he said: “Lauren was flying abroad that morning and she wanted to quietly get her jewellery.”

Ms Silverman’s statement, also read to the court, said items were taken from a dressing room on the first floor and a “large quantity of jewellery” was taken from the safe.

February, 34, was spotted by a private security guard who was patrolling the area overnight, the court heard.

February, of no fixed address, denies one count of burglary.