29 May 2023 , 22:22
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Benedict Cumberbatch was left fearing for his life as a man launched a knife attack at his family home, a court heard.
The Sherlock actor, 46, was at his London home with his wife Sophie Hunter and three children when a former chef kicked his way through the gates of the star's £3.5 million house.
Jack Bissell, 35, is said to have ripped the intercom off the wall and made a series of threats.
A court heard how the man shouted: "I know you've moved here, I hope it burns down."
Cumberbatch could hear Bissell smashing into his garden and shouting abuse.
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The former chef at a luxury hotel is said to have pulled out a plant and threw it at the garden wall, spat at the intercom and took it off with a fish knife.
Benedict and wife Sophie had an attack launched on their home (AFP via Getty Images)He then fled the scene but was arrested after police found his DNA on the intercom, a court heard.
Bissell admitted criminal damage at Wood Green Crown Court earlier this month.
He was fined £250 and a given a three-year restraining order banning him from approaching the Cumberbatch family and the area in which they live.
Prosecutors said that before targeting the actor's home, Bissell bought two packets of pitta bread from a shop nearby and shouted to the shopkeeper that he was going to break into Cumberbatch's house and burn it to the ground.
It is not clear why Bissell targeted the Oscar nominee and he offered no defence in court.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced on May 10.
Benedict is said to have bought his five-bedroom home back in 2015.
He lives there with his theatre director and former actress wife Sophie, 45, and their three sons.
The couple announced their engagement in the Forthcoming Marriages section of The Times in 2014, after a seventeen-year friendship.
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