Cowell guard insists jewel robbery not an inside job
A BURGLARY at Simon Cowell’s £35 million home could have been an inside job, a court was told yesterday.
The X Factor supremo’s security guard admitted he must have been in the lavatory when a burglar broke in to steal jewellery and passports from an open safe, but has rejected any suggestion the almost £1 million raid at the property was “an inside job”.
Mr Cowell was asleep in the house in Holland Park, west London, as were his partner Lauren Silverman, their son Eric, and the child’s nanny.
Darren February, 34, is accused of climbing over walls and entering the house through a patio door.
Simon Williams, Mr Cowell’s private security guard, had been downstairs in his office at the time his boss went to bed at around 12.30am. About an hour later Mr Williams heard a loud noise, and checked a gym, kitchen and guest room in the basement. He discovered the patio doors on the ground floor were open and a handbag and laptops on a coffee table outside.
Pc Tze Chua said Mr Williams “appeared very reluctant to let me in” when police asked to check inside the property. Mr Williams told the court: “It’s always been protocol that the house owner did not want police on site, unless there was something extreme and there was an important reason to be there.”
The burglar was spotted making off by security worker M’Batonha Mendes, who was patrolling the scene overnight and identified him as being the defendant, the jury has been told.
Giving evidence, Mr Mendes said he spoke to Mr Williams after collecting a passport and items of jewellery dropped by the burglar.
He told the court: “He (Mr Williams) said he went to the toilet and when he came out he noticed that the front door was wide open and all the lights were switched on in the house.”
Giles Newell, defending, put it to Mr Williams that Mr Cowell had told the media after the burglary that he suspected it was “an inside job”.
He asked: “Do you know anything about this being an inside job?” Mr Williams replied: “No, I certainly do not.”
Mr February was not in the dock at Isleworth Crown Court for the second day of his trial. He denies one count of burglary.
The case continues.