SHOCK: Richard Hammond’s h0rror burglar ordeal as star feared family was gassed
Richard Hammond’s family have recalled the terrifying moment their holiday villa was burgled while they slept, with his former wife Mindy saying she believes the group may have been affected by some form of gas.
The former Top Gear star, now 56, was staying at a villa in Saint-Tropez in southeast France in 2018 with Mindy, their daughter Willow and a group of friends when thieves broke into the property.
Mindy later described the experience as a “horror story” and revealed that she may have come frighteningly close to confronting one of the intruders.
During the night, she heard a door close downstairs and went to investigate.
She then heard what she described as a male voice coming from behind a door.
At the time, Mindy assumed it belonged to one of the other people staying at the villa and returned to bed. Only after discovering the burglary did she believe the voice may actually have belonged to one of the thieves.
“That just makes my blood run cold,” she told the Sunday Express at the time.
“I could have easily walked in and it could have been unpleasant.”
Family Woke to Discover Their Belongings Had Been Taken
The burglary happened just days into the group’s holiday.
There were reportedly 15 people staying at the property, and when they woke the following morning, they began noticing that cash had disappeared from wallets and purses.
Richard and Mindy’s daughter Willow, who was 15 at the time, also discovered that her watch was missing.
Mindy then began thinking back over what she had noticed when she first woke up.
“I thought back on it and realised it was odd, because the first thing I noticed when I woke up was our bedroom door was open, as was everybody else’s,” she recalled.
She said the burglars appeared to have moved freely through the bedrooms while everyone was asleep.
“I’m pretty convinced we must have been gassed or something, because they were in all of the bedrooms – they went where they wanted, into each room, opening and closing the drawers, searching through handbags etc.”
There was no confirmation in the account that gas had actually been used, making that Mindy’s belief about what might have happened rather than an established finding.
‘They Went Where They Wanted’
What particularly disturbed Mindy was the confidence the intruders appeared to have shown while searching the villa.
“You have got to have some kind of confidence to do that and to be quite satisfied that people aren’t going to wake up,” she said.
She also recalled that everyone staying in the house had struggled to wake up the following morning.
Mindy said that even Richard’s snoring — something that would normally disturb her — had failed to wake her that night.
Reports at the time noted that anaesthetic gas had previously been suspected in other robberies in the region, including an incident involving Formula 1 driver Jenson Button.
However, the Hammond family’s account did not establish that the same method had been used in their villa.
Teenage Daughter’s Bedroom Was Searched
The experience became even more upsetting because their teenage daughter had been sleeping while strangers apparently searched her room.
“It’s particularly worrying when you have a teenage girl who knows that her bedside table has been rifled through while she was sleeping – that’s not very nice at all,” Mindy said.
The group subsequently learned that a neighbouring property had also been burgled on the same night.
The owner of their villa contacted police, who began patrolling the area.
Mindy said the family also hired additional security for the remainder of their stay.
“We also employed a security guard for the rest of the holiday, night watch, to reassure everybody,” she explained.
Two intruders were reportedly captured on camera and arrested by police within 48 hours of the break-in.
Mindy Feared What Could Have Happened
For Mindy, one of the most frightening aspects was imagining what could have happened if Richard or one of the other men staying at the villa had woken and confronted the burglars.
She said the fathers in the group naturally felt responsible for protecting their families following the incident.
“The other worry for all the wives was that the husbands think, ‘We are going to stay up all night because we are dads and husbands and have to protect our families’,” she said.
But she feared that instinct could have created an even more dangerous situation.
“That could have ended up in a very bad situation if there was a confrontation,” Mindy added.
“There would have been too much emotion involved.”
Although the family escaped without a physical confrontation, Mindy’s recollection of hearing a stranger inside the villa — and only later realising who it may have been — remained one of the most disturbing elements of the ordeal.
