Stephanie Beacham has revealed she thought she was ‘going to die’ after her west London home was burgled in an armed raid.
The Dynasty star, 76, was ordered to hand over her money and jewellery after confronting burglar David Wilson in Bayswater on October 25, 2022.
Wilson, from Glasgow, threatened the British actress with a two-foot metal crowbar and darted up the stairs.
Discussing the raid on ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, Stephanie said: ‘There he was, the most frightening face with a … crowbar.’
Later in the interview, Stephanie revealed that after he ordered she hand over her possessions, she thought: ‘Oh, I think I’m going to die.’
Dynasty star Stephanie Beacham revealed she thought she was ‘going to die’ after her west London home was burgled in an armed raid while speaking on GMB on Tuesday
The actress, 76, was ordered to hand over her money and jewellery after confronting burglar David Wilson in Bayswater on October 25, 2022
Recalling the day it happened, Stephanie told presenters Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid: ‘There I am, it’s Sunday afternoon, you don’t get burgled on a Sunday afternoon.
‘Luckily I was dressed for gardening, which meant I had a really dodgy jumper on and no jewellery, and probably didn’t look very much like moi.’
She went on to talk about the moment he came in, saying: ‘Anyway, I heard a noise downstairs and I thought “Oh well there’s no one I know, must be I’ve got an assistant [or] a friend”, and I said “Hello”, and I looked over in the back and there he was the most frightening face with a … crowbar.
‘He did have the opportunity to run for the front door, but he didn’t, he leapt up the stairs.
‘He leapt up the stairs and then there it was, a crowbar, over my head, and then the corny dialogue, “Give me your money, give me your jewellery, don’t look at me, I wish you weren’t here”.’
Stephanie recalled thinking at that moment that she was going to die, saying that Wilson then told her to go into the bathroom – where she panicked realising she had dropped her phone.
She said: ‘I thought “Oh, I think I’m going to die” and I was an absolute wimp, total wimp, and I gave him my money.
‘So, then he said “What’s in that handbag”, a lovely Valentino handbag,’ she continued. ‘I was sitting there. I said “Nothing. Look”. I gave him everything.’
Recalling the day it happened, Stephanie told presenters Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid: ‘There I am, it’s Sunday afternoon, you don’t get burgled on a Sunday afternoon’
The actress was ordered to hand over her money and jewellery after confronting the burglar
Police described the British actress, who found fame as Sable Colby in the 1980s US soap opera, as profoundly shaken following the burglary at her home
Stephanie added: ‘Then he said “Get in there”. Well, I didn’t need telling twice, it was my bathroom, so I got in and locked the door, and I thought, “You’ve been such a wimp, you’ve been such a wimp and you haven’t got your phone because you dropped it when you saw him and now he’s got your phone and the other phone is the other side of the bed, [in] the other room”.’
She went on to say that she thought about what Jodie Foster – as the mother, Meg Altman, in 2002 thriller Panic Room – would do in the situation and picked up a ‘wobbly sponge’ on a plastic handle, and held it by the door.
‘Anyway, after a length of time I heard noises and it seemed like he’d gone downstairs, and I got out and I phoned the police,’ Stephanie added.
David Wilson (pictured) claimed the raid was ‘unplanned’, suggesting he did not know whose home he was breaking into
‘Weeks later when I was giving in the report thing, I said “I feel almost sorry for him”, and the policeman was incredibly cross with me. He said “I heard your 999 call, you thought you were going to die”.’
Wilson was jailed for a total of 10 years and five months in February last year after pleading guilty to the aggravated burglary and a separate burglary in Sheffield.
In February 2023, Southwark Crown Court judge Martin Griffiths told Wilson: ‘What you did had a traumatic effect on her.
‘You violated the safe space of her home causing her to be suspicious of non-existent threats and even the difficulty of learning her lines when she goes for an acting job.’
Stephanie had her big break in 1971 horror film The Nightcomers with Marlon Brando and went on to star in Dracula A.D. 1972, And Now The Screaming Starts! and House Of Mortal Sin.
She is best known for Dynasty as glamorous Sable Colby opposite Dame Joan Collins and the spin-off The Colbys.
In Coronation Street, Beacham, as Martha Fraser, had a romance with Ken Barlow (William Roache) in 2009, returning briefly as the character in 2022.
