Terror of BAA chief and wife as knife gang struck at their Belgravia home

 
ONE TIME USE p32 Sir Nigel Rudd, Chairman of BAA Limited, Barclays Capital and Invensys at his offices, London, Britain. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Jason Alden / Rex Features ( 1208155e ) 30 Jun 2010
Jason Alden/Rex
John Dunne @jhdunne23 November 2012
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The chairman of airports operator BAA today described his horror as robbers plundered his £7 million home while holding him and his wife at knifepoint.

Sir Nigel Rudd, 63, and his wife Lesley were held as the muggers allegedly stole £84,000 of jewels and other valuables, Southwark crown court heard. Lady Rudd was pinned down with one robber kneeling on her chest.

The court has heard that Gulam Gani, Nicholas Lewis and Shaun Wallace cruised affluent areas ready to target wealthy victims.

The couple had returned home from a restaurant when they were attacked on May 23 last year. The robbers struck as Lady Rudd was about to close the front door of their Belgravia home, bundling her to the floor.

Sir Nigel said: “My wife opened the door and I went to the kitchen. I heard screams and a thump. Someone grabbed me from the back and pushed me onto the ground. My wife was on her back with another man with a knee on her chest. The man that attacked me ran into the kitchen and got a carving knife.

“He pushed it against me but did not stab me. He also had a metal sharpener for a knife.”

He said he handed over his valuable watch and the other attacked pulled a ring off his wife’s finger. The robbers then frogmarched his wife upstairs.

Sir Nigel was taken upstairs and ordered to open a small safe, but there was nothing inside.

The robbers then scooped up valuables from around the room and put them in a white handbag. They then left the room leaving the couple fearing that the attackers — who were wearing bandanas — were still in the house.

Lady Rudd said: “At this point we were terrified, we did not know what was going on. We did not know if they had left or not.”

The robbers fled and the couple locked themselves in and dialled 999.

In a witness statement read to the court, Lady Rudd said: “I thought that if I did not do as I am told they will kill him [my husband].” Items stolen included a £10,000 Cartier ring, a £20,000 diamond ring and pearls.

The court heard that the couple’s chauffeur was asleep in a basement bedroom when the attack took place.

Gani, 47 of White City, Lewis, 34 of Romford, and Wallace, 30 of North Kensington, deny one count of conspiracy to rob between May and July last year. Lewis denies a further count of robbery said to have taken place on October 31, last year.

Hatton Garden jeweller Radcliffe Benjemin, 55, of Ilford, denies two charges of conspiracy to handle stolen goods. The trial continues.

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