Dynasty star ‘confronted by a burglar with hammer in her home’
FORMER Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham came face to face with a hammer-wielding burglar during a terrifying robbery, a court has been told.
The 75-year-old British actress was at her £ 750,000 home when she was confronted by the armed raider, it is alleged.
Southwark Crown Court heard that her jewellery, keys, cheque book, purse and mobile phone were all stolen during the break-in on September 25 last year.
But Ms Beacham, who starred as Sable Colby in the 1980s US soap opera, is not thought to have been hurt.
Police subsequently charged the alleged intruder David Wilson, 56, with aggravated burglary and robbery.
During a brief hearing about the case, prosecutor Gregor McKinley urged the court to list the case for trial as soon as possible, ‘given the age and vulnerability of the victim’. Ms Beacham is expected to be called as a key witness in the case.
Wilson appeared in court for the first time on December 21, but details of the case only emerged yesterday.
According to the charges, he is accused of entering the actress’s west London home ‘as a trespasser’, wielding a hammer as a weapon. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary and robbery.
In a separate case, Wilson is accused of burgling the home of a pensioner in Sheffield, allegedly stealing a snooker championship medal, a stepladder, and a mattress. He also denies this offence.
Judge Nicholas Rimmer remanded the defendant in custody until the next hearing on February 1.
It is not the first time that Ms Beacham has fallen victim to thieves. A number of her letters and hundreds of treasured family photographs were being moved to a storage unit when they were stolen from a van in south London in 2015.
But the items were later recovered after being found dumped in a suitcase by a 12-year- old boy out fishing with his father who recognised the star in the pictures. Ms Beacham has had a career lasting more than 50 years in film, television and on stage. She had a leading role in the early 1980s in the BBC drama Tenko about a group of women prisoners of war held captive by the Japanese after the invasion of Singapore in 1942.
But she achieved global stardom later in the 1980s in Dynasty, featuring in 23 episodes of the drama opposite Joan Collins.
She also appeared in 49 episodes of the Dynasty spin- off show The Colbys.
The Golden Globe-nominated actress has made guest appearances in shows including Bad Girls and Casualty. Most recently she has returned as Ken Barlow’s love interest in Coronation Street, following a successful stint on the ITV soap in 2009.
The actress, who dated Marlon Brando, Imran Khan and Eric Clapton, has also appeared in a number of reality shows including Strictly Come Dancing in 2007 and Celebrity Big Brother in 2010.
Last month she said that working had kept her young: ‘I don’t think actors retire. We just carry on until we can’t do it any more. Acting, with all its challenges, keeps me young.’
‘Vulnerability of the victim’