Simon Cowell security guard ‘on loo’ during £1m raid

The X Factor supremo, his partner Lauren Silverman, their toddler Eric and the child’s nanny were asleep in the five-bed house at the time.

Darren February is accused of raiding the house in Holland Park, west London, where Cowell has lived for 10 years, on 4 December 2015.

The burglar was spotted making off by security worker M’Batonha Mendes, who was patrolling the scene overnight and was identified as 34-year-old February, the jury has been told.

Giving evidence, Mr Mendes said he spoke to Cowell’s private security guard Simon 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.”

Mr Williams said he was the only staff member awake in the house at the time of the burglary, and had not seen the man making his way into the house on the CCTV cameras monitoring the outside of the property.

He accepted he would have been either in the kitchen making a hot drink or in the toilet.

He added: “I’m assuming it would’ve been the latter.”

Jurors heard that at around 1.30am Mr Williams heard a loud noise and while checking the property found the patio doors on the ground floor were open and a handbag and laptops on a coffee table outside.

Asked if he was surprised to see these items outside at such an early hour of the morning, he told the court: “Surprised? Possibly. Confused, to be fair.”

Police Constable 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.”

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.”

Items stolen during the burglary included a diamond ring, bracelet and watches worth a total of around £950,000, as well as two passports.

Prosecutor Denis Barry said traces of February’s DNA were found on gloves discarded on the route the accused is said to have taken as he fled the scene.

The defendant, of no fixed address, denies one count of burglary.

The trial at Isleworth Crown Court continues. skynews.com