'Serial burglar scaled walls to break into Simon Cowell's west London house and steal £1million in jewellery while mogul and his family slept inside'

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Darren February, 34, is accused of scaling the walls of Simon Cowell's home and stealing jewellery worth almost £1 million

A serial burglar scaled walls to get inside Simon Cowell's house to steal jewellery worth almost £1 million from an open safe as The X Factor supremo and his family slept, a court has heard.

It is alleged Darren February, 34, who denies the charge, targeted the music mogul's property in a wealthy part of west London, but was spotted making off by a private security guard who was patrolling the area overnight.

At the time of the break-in at around 1.30am on December 4, 2015, Cowell was asleep in the house in Holland Park.

His partner, Lauren Silverman, their toddler son, Eric, and a nanny were also at the property. 

The safe, inside a wardrobe in a bedroom, had been left open as Ms Silverman was due to fly out the next morning, jurors were told as the trial opened at Isleworth Crown Court.

February allegedly forced his way into the house through a rear floor patio door, having first tried the front door in an attempt described as 'a bit ambitious' by prosecutor Denis Barry.

Mr Barry said: 'He (Mr Cowell) gives evidence that the items stolen were worth £950,000. He was at home on the 4th of December 2015 together with his partner and child, the nanny and the security officer downstairs.'

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Darren February, 32, is standing trial accused of burgling Simon Cowell's £10million home. Cowell was asleep inside the property at the time with partner Lauren Silverman, right, and their son Eric, three, centre

As he made off from the burglary the defendant is said to have dropped a passport and some of the jewellery, having been approached by security worker M'Batonha Mendes, the court heard. 

A second passport was later found at a refuse facility and handed to police.

The jury will hear, Mr Barry added, from two scientific experts, about DNA found on gloves that the prosecution say were worn by the defendant and discarded on his escape route from the crime.

Mr Barry, who described how it had been raining earlier that night, said: 'When the gloves were found it was striking that they were dry because if they had been left there for some time they would be drenched, the prosecution say.'

A handprint was also found on a wall outside the property as, the prosecution suggest, he stopped to take a short break.

Mr Barry said: 'It would appear from the CCTV that the burglar is catching his breath because he had to shimmy over lots of different walls to get in to the premises and around the premises.'

February, who has dozens of convictions for burglary, was also later identified by two police officers who studied CCTV footage, Mr Barry said.

A safe had been left open and items belonging to Ms Silverman, pictured with Cowell, worth £950,000 were taken

He added: 'Mr February over a few years has committed a total of 37 burglaries and what is more relevant, he has committed a total of 37 burglaries, most of which are in this area. These areas are some of the more wealthy areas in London.'  

The court will hear evidence from M'Batonha Mendez, who was working the night of the burglary for a private security firm, patrolling several roads in the area. 

Mr Barry said: 'He was sat in his car watching the road and noticed a man walking along pavement on the opposite side of the road. 

'The burglar walks along the road and appears to drop something. The man stopped for a second to see what he had dropped, and then carried on his way. 

'Mr Mendez drove his car and saw it was the first of the two UK passports and noticed it belonged to Mr Cowell.' 

He followed the suspect as he walked away from the scene and the prosecutor said: 'He caught up with the man and said 'just a second'. 

'The man continued to walk away from him. He was walking in the direction of Holland Park area. He was carrying a brown leather satchel like bag. 

'The burglar suddenly turned round to face Mr Mendez and said "What do you want, what do you want" and then started to run. And he was pursued by Mr Mendez

'The burglar dropped the bag and we know he was the burglar because he dropped the proceeds of the burglary.' 

The court heard February is accused of stealing £1million of jewellery from the west London property, pictured

Within the bag were 'jewellery boxes, watches and other jewellery items' which Mr Mendez picked up and returned to Mr Cowell's home where he met with police. 

The court heard Simon Cowell's passport was found a couple days later at a recycling centre in Wandsworth with DNA traces a man called Daniel Mendoza, a personal friend of February's. 

A previous hearing heard Mr Cowell would not be giving evidence in the trial, but a statement from the Britain's Got Talent judge will be read out in court by the prosecution.

February, of no fixed address, denies one count of burglary. The trial is expected to last a week.

Prosecutor Kevin Christie said jewellery belonging to Ms Silverman, with an estimated value of £1million, was stolen.

Watches and two passports, belonging to Cowell, were also taken from a safe. The passports were later recovered.

Cowell later told the court how diamond rings worth £500,000 were stolen in the raid. In a statement read to the jury the music mogul said:

'The house is a four-floor five-bedroom detached house. The following persons were in my house. Lauren Silverman and myself were in the master bedroom.

'My son and his nanny were in their bedroom on the second floor and our security guard Simon Williams was in his offence on the ground floor.

'There is a large safe within a wardrobe. Myself and Lauren went to bed at 12:30 on the morning of the burglary, and I believe that my nanny and son were already asleep.

'I next remember being woken by Simon Williams who said here had been an incident in the property, we had been robbed and should stay in the room.

Cowell, pictured with Ms Silverman, said he was 'creeped out' by the incident

'Lauren and myself had then asked about my son and we were very concerned about making sure he was alright.

'Our safe had been open and items had been taken.

'Lauren was flying abroad that morning and she wanted to quietly get her jewellery.

'The security guard came to me and told me my passports and brown 1920 attache case had been recovered and I realised it had been taken.'

Cowell said among the jewellery taken were watches worth £200,000, diamond rings worth £500,000, diamond earrings valued at £220,000 and diamond bracelets worth £50,000.

He added: 'No one has the right or authority to steal from Lauren or myself and I will go to court if required.'

The court then heard from the residential security guard Mr Mendes, who noticed the burglar while on patrol.

He said: 'I saw he dropped something. He was looking around, and went to walk away, so I went back to that area and kept my eyes on him.'

Mr Mendes told the jurors he had then picked up the passport, and gone past Mr Cowell's house as he circled round to try and intercept the culprit.

'As I went past the door was open and straight away I knew that something was going on.

'The main front door was open. I carried on as I wanted to challenge the person who was carrying the bag and dropped the passport.

'I parked the car by the school, and then started walking down. I saw him again. He was entering Woodsford Square.

'I got out the car, walked over to him, he was on the Woodsford Square side of the road.

'I got within two, three metres. He was face to face with me. When he noticed my presence he walked out of Woodsford Square.

'As he was walking out that gate I was rushing into him, said "hold on just a second".

'He said "what what, I didn't do anything", and just started running away.

'As I was pursed him, I was gaining on him, and he dropped the bag. I stopped and ran back to the bag.' 

Cowell said following the burglary that knowing an intruder had passed just 'three feet' from where he lay asleep 'creeps' him out. 

Commenting on the night of the raid, Cowell said: 'I went to bed early that night. I'm normally up quite late.' His three Yorkshire Terriers had been with him.

Of the items stolen - said to include jewellery and cash - he added: 'It was mainly Lauren's stuff. The first thing you think about is, "OK, that's insured so it's not the end of the world".

'It's just the feeling of that invasion, that someone was three feet away from you. It kind of creeps you out a bit.'

Cowell has since stepped up security, saying: 'It's a wake-up call. I've changed lots of things to make it harder to get into.

'This is happening hundreds of times a day across the country, I'm not the only one. Most people, like me, think, "At least no one got hurt".'

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