Benedict Cumberbatch’s Family Targeted by Angry Man Wielding Knife

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch‘s London home was damaged by a former chef who wielded a fish knife. Cumberbatch was at home with his wife and three children when Jack Bissell, 35, kicked through their front iron gate, shouting: “I know you’ve moved here, I hope it burns down,” according to an account given earlier this month in court, per the BBC. Wood Green Crown Court fined Bissell £250 for criminal damage he committed on May 10. Also, he was issued a three-year restraining order barring him from entering Cumberbatch’s home or going near his family. This week, the Daily Mail successfully challenged blanket restrictions that prevented case details from being reported. According to the court testimony, Bissell, a former chef at a Mayfair hotel up until 2020, threw a plant and spit at the intercom before tearing it loose with a fish knife. Reports stated he fled the scene but was caught when his DNA was found on the intercom. Before attacking the house, the prosecution said Bissell bought two packs of pita bread and told the shopkeeper he intended to break in and burn it down, reported the BBC. There is no explanation for why Bissell targeted Cumberbatch, and he did not offer a defense in court.

During the protests against military intervention in Syria in central London in late 2015, he was photographed being arrested during protests against military intervention in Syria. He has a history of theft, three warnings for offenses against property, a public order offense, and a drug offense. A source close to Cumberbatch explained to the Daily Mail, “Naturally, all of the family were absolutely terrified and thought this guy was going to get in and hurt them. “Luckily, it never went that far. Benedict and Sophie have had many sleepless nights since worrying that they may be targeted again.” Cumberbatch has a past of attracting troubling, unwanted attention.

There were at least two instances in 2016 when his house was visited by a stalker who left strange messages. The then-Sherlock star informed the police, and action was taken. It was believed that the woman was an obsessed fan of Cumberbatch, who left two red ribbons at his north London property, one tied to his car and one on a window. The ribbons were thought to reference Arthur Conan Doyle’s original Sherlock Holmes novel. The Metropolitan Police issued an official Police Information Notice over harassment prohibiting the woman from contacting the 39-year-old actor. In a profile for Vanity Fair‘s November issue that year, the British actor expressed his wariness of “stalkers.” “There are people who believe that my wife is a P.R. stunt and my child is a P.R. stunt,” Cumberbatch, 40, told the outlet. “I think really it’s to do with the idea that the ‘Internet’s boyfriend’ can’t actually belong to anyone else but the Internet. It’s impossible he belongs to anyone but me. And that’s what stalking is. That’s what obsessive, deluded, really scary behavior is.”