Jewellery worth £1million stolen while Simon Cowell and family slept, court hears

Darren February appeared in Hammersmith Magistrates' Court charged with burglary of property including jewellery and passports from Simon Cowell's home

Jewellery worth about £1 million was stolen during a break-in at Simon Cowell’s mansion while The X Factor creator and his family were asleep, a court has heard.

Darren February, 32, spoke only to confirm his personal details as he appeared in the dock at Hammersmith Magistrates’ Court, west London, charged with burglary.

*X Factor boss Simon Cowell (Ian West/PA)*

Simon was in the master bedroom of the house in Holland Park, west London, when the alleged raid took place on December 4 last year at about 1.30am.

Simon’s girlfriend Lauren Silverman, their two year-old son Eric, a nanny and a security guard were also at the property.

Prosecutor Kevin Christie said jewellery belonging to Lauren, with an estimated value of £1 million, along with watches and two passports, belonging to Simon, were taken from a safe.

*Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA Wire)*

The passports were later recovered.

February, of no fixed address, was ordered to next appear at Isleworth Crown Court on November 2.

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.