Benedict Cumberbatch & His Family Were Attacked By Angry Chef Wielding a Fish Knife | He Has Now Pleaded Guilty

The man allegedly shouted during the incident, "I know you've moved here, I hope it burns down."

Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Frazer Harrison

By Shruti Menon

May 31, 2023

Posted May 31, 2023

A former chef reportedly attacked Benedict Cumberbatch's London home while the actor, his wife Sophie Hunter, and their three young children were home. According to BBC News, Jack Bissell, a former chef at the five-star Beaumont Hotel in west London, was accused of kicking through an iron gate at Wood Green Crown Court. He shouted, "I know you've moved here, I hope it burns down," a court was told earlier in May.

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch's home attacked by former chef wielding fish knife https://t.co/mtbrUpXq7a
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) May 30, 2023

Bissell has been accused of pulling up a plant and throwing it at a wall, spitting at the intercom, and cutting it loose with a fish knife. He fled the scene of the crime, but his DNA was later found on the intercom. He later pleaded guilty to criminal damage at Wood Green crown court on May 10 and was fined £310, per Los Angeles Times. He also received a three-year restraining order which prevents him from being close to the family and the area in which they reside. He has previous convictions including theft, three warnings for offenses against property, a public order offense, and a drug offense. Back in 2015, he was arrested during protests against military intervention in Syria in central London. The 35-year-old's motive for the attack was not clear, and he did not offer any defense in court.

Benedict Cumberbatch and his family have reportedly endured “many sleepless nights” after a chef attacked their home, kicking his way through an iron gate and screaming.https://t.co/iQ2Yci6psI
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 29, 2023

The actor, who has been married to the playwright since 2015, reportedly purchased their home the same year per ET Online. They share three boys together, Kit, 7, Hal, 6, and Finn, who was born in 2019. The 46-year-old Sherlock star announced his engagement to his wife Sophie in an old-fashioned way back in 2014. The Imitation Game actor actually flew to Edinburgh to ask the permission of Hunter's mother, Katharine, before he proposed. Once that was done, the actual announcement wasn't made in a typical way on social media platforms as many celebrities tend to do. Instead, the news was published through a post in the newspaper, according to PEOPLE. It simply read, “The engagement is announced between Benedict, son of Wanda and Timothy Cumberbatch of London, and Sophie, daughter of Katherine Hunter of Edinburgh and Charles Hunter of London.”

Benedict Cumberbatch and Sophie Hunter attend The Moet British Independent Film Awards at Old Billingsgate Market on December 7, 2014 in London, England. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The Moet British Independent Film Awards)

Cumberbatch told the outlet, "It's what I would have done if I wasn't sort of famous. It's what we do. It's a kind of traditional thing to do. I wanted to have some control over the message. I don't Tweet or do social media. It's too impersonal," he said, adding, "I would rather do what we did, and have people find it, and not see us from some s—ty, grainy footage staring lovingly into each other's eyes with a ring on someone's finger. I wanted it to be ours."