Oscar-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch and his family were terrorized by a man who battered down the front gate of their London home, destroyed an intercom, and screamed threats while the family huddled inside, according to reports.
Police say that Jack Bissell, a 35-year-old former chef, kicked down the front gate of Cumberbatch’s home, began threatening the actor’s life and shouting, “I know you’ve moved here, I hope it burns down,” the Daily Mail reported.
The actor, twice nominated for an Oscar, and his wife and three young children were home at the time and immediately called the police.
Bissell, a former chef at the five-star Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair, reportedly destroyed planters, pulled an intercom off a wall, spat at the wall, and wielded a fishing knife all while screaming threats at the actor, police added.
A source told the Mail that the family was “terrified” during the break-in and have “had many sleepless nights since worrying that they may be targeted again.”
The suspect fled the scene before the police arrived, but he was arrested later after investigators found he made threats aimed at the actor in front of a local store employee.
Bissell appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the property damage, but entered no reason to explain why he targeted Cumberbatch.
The attacker has a history of violent outbursts and arrests.
In 2015 he was arrested at a protest over British involvement in Syria, has a conviction for theft and three warnings for property damage, a drug offense, and a public order offense.
Cumberbatch faced another strange attack on his family name in January when the country of Barbados announced it was looking into trying to force the actor to pay “reparations” because his family owned a plantation and kept slaves there more than 200 years ago.
The country later claimed that it was not prepared to pursue Cumberbatch individually for his family’s past slave keeping.
The Disney and Marvel Doctor Strange star has said in the past that his actress mother, Wanda Ventham, had warned him to change his last name so as to avoid being tarred with his family’s dark slave-owning past.
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