A British YouTube star was held at gunpoint during a terrifying £1.4million house raid whilst he was staying at a luxury villa in Cannes with his girlfriend.
Ben Phillips, who has more than 30million followers across all social media platforms, said he feared he was going to die when he was targeted at the £8million property at the beginning of this month.
The 33-year-old from Wales had booked Villa Bleu, an Airbnb property, in the Vallauris area of the city with his partner, Lowri Clark, and three friends to celebrate one of their birthdays.
On the second night of their trip, on June 2, Mr Phillips had stayed behind in the villa whilst the rest of the group went out for dinner.
He said that at around 11.30pm he heard a noise upstairs but assumed it might be a cleaner.
‘I peeped through the door of the bedroom and as I looked out onto the stairs, there were five armed robbers,’ Mr Phillips, who gained popularity for his prank videos, said.
‘They ran towards me, and I shut the door quickly, but they started smashing it back at me, until it got to the point where someone got their arm around the door with a gun pointed at my face.’
Ben Phillips, who has more than 30million followers across social media, said he feared he was going to die when he was targeted at the £8million property at the beginning of this month
Pictured: Lowri Clark – Mr Phillips’ girlfriend who was staying with him in the villa
Mr Phillips is seen talking to police after the raid earlier this month
‘They were smacking me to the head yelling: “Tell us where the money is”, “Where’s the cash?”, “Where’s the safe?,” he added in comments to WalesOnline.
Mr Phillips claimed that the robbers went on to steal luxury jewellery and other items belonging to him and his girlfriend.
He said he stood in front of three of them as they tipped their bags upside down and ‘grabbed everything’, while one of them held a gun to his temple.
The intruders also discovered other high-end items belonging to the villa’s owners.
It is understood the robbers took around £400,000 to £500,000 worth of goods from Mr Phillips, including three Rolex watches and their Louis Vuitton luggage.
In total, the value of the theft from the villa was around £1.4million to £1.5million.
But Mr Phillips said the terrifying ordeal only got worse when the robbers began to leave.
He claimed that one of them told him to put one of his girlfriend’s dresses around his head and to turn around.
The YouTuber said at this point he was convinced that they were going to shoot him but he heard a ‘clicking noise’ and the gun jammed.
The robbers took around £400,000 to £500,000 worth of goods from Mr Phillips, including three Rolex watches and their Louis Vuitton luggage. Pictured Ms Clark
Around 50 French armed officers attended the scene along with a forensics unit
Mr Phillips explained that he knocked the gun out of the robber’s hand and sprinted towards the bathroom where he locked himself in.
He claimed the intruders tried to break into the bathroom and only left the property when he shouted ‘police, police, police’.
Around 50 French armed officers attended the scene along with a forensics unit.
Mr Phillips says the intruders managed to enter the property by scaling a four-metre tall wall.
Five people – three men aged 26, 36 and 31 and two women aged 34-years-old and 31-years-old have been arrested in connection with the robbery.
It is understood that two of the alleged thieves were caught the day after the incident after being seen on CCTV.
A spokesperson for French police said: ‘On June 2 at around 11.15 pm, three individuals with concealed faces and gloves entered a luxurious villa in Vallauris rented by a 33-year-old YouTuber with 4.5 million subscribers and his friends.
‘In the aftermath of the robbery, a man suspected of receiving part of the loot was arrested by the BRI 06 teams.
‘The man was trying to resell the stolen items to ‘a Nice-based company specialising in the purchase and resale of second-hand luxury goods’.
‘Five people, three men aged 26, 36 and 31, a 34-year-old and a 31-year-old women were presented to the Grasse prosecutor’s office and placed in pre-trial detention pending their immediate appearance.’
