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Jenson Button speaks for first time about 'scary' holiday raid


August 21, 2015
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Jenson Button has spoken about the "horrible" house raid that took place while he was on holiday in France, during which two men stole items worth £300,000 while he and his wife slept. The Formula One driver was staying at a villa in St Tropez with Jessica and friends when the burglary took place on 3 August. Thankfully, no-one was harmed, but among the valuables taken was Jessica's engagement ring, reportedly worth £250,000."It's scary stuff," Jenson said, as he spoke of the ordeal ahead of this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. "It's really not nice knowing someone was in your room going through your drawers eight centimetres from your wife's head. That's the horrible bit, really.

jenson button © Photo: Getty Images

Jenson Button has spoken for the first time about the "scary" holiday raid

"You can replace the money and the jewellery, you obviously have the sentimental value of an engagement ring, but it is all replaceable, whereas our health isn't. "He added: "I woke up and the drawer next to the bed was open and I thought immediately that was strange. I woke up early because I was going cycling for training. The bedroom door was open and I always close it and then I noticed the outside door was open and stuff was everywhere. I heard a lot of people have been affected this summer down there. "It's not the first time Jenson has faced a threat to his personal security; he narrowly escaped an attempted armed carjacking in Brazil in 2010. He said this latest incident had prompted him to make some changes. "You're obviously going to be more cautious. I had the issue in Brazil as well. You do worry so we have taken certain measures so that we feel more secure.

jenson jessica © Photo: Getty Images

Jenson and his wife Jessica were in the villa at the time of the robbery

"Social networking always brings up this issue and we don't do social networking unless we are at home in Monaco now. "Jenson also addressed reports that the villa had been gassed to incapacitate the residents. "It was strange no one woke up, but one of the officers we spoke to said it could be that we were gassed, so that is where that came from," he said. "It doesn't matter either way to us what happened; someone burgled our house when we were in it and whether we were gassed or not doesn't matter."We are all here safe and well, that is the important thing, but it is amazing that we didn't realise it was happening."

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