Russian businesswoman 'hired gang for £100,000 raid on ex-lover's house and assault on wife'

A Russian businesswoman masterminded a terrifying revenge robbery of her married ex-lover's house that saw his wife and teenage daughter tied up, a court has heard.

Karine Solloway, a medical company chief who lives in an exclusive London mews next to Regent's Park, is accused of conspiracy to rob following a break-in at the Cheshire home of tycoon Robert McKendrick in October of last year.

Her trial heard how she orchestrated the plan after being unhappy at McKendrick, 57, ending their affair, and to recoup some of the more than £1m ($1.33m, €1.14m) she loaned his ailing business.

She denies the charge.

Ringleader Paul Prior and another man have already pleaded guilty to the robbery, while a third man, Kimpton Mativenga, is standing trial alongside Solloway in connection with the incident.

The court heard how on the night of 6 October, three men dressed in black had broken into McKendrick's home in the upmarket village of Alderley Edge while he was in Africa on business.

The three assailants were said to have tied up the businessman's wife Priya and his 17-year-old daughter Scarlett before blindfolding them and forcing them to wear ear defenders.

They were then threatened and dragged around for hours, prosecutor Andrew Ford told Chester Crown Court on Tuesday (31 October). The men eventually left with £100,000 worth of jewellery and valuables.

When some of the stolen property was traced back to Prior's London address via his eBay account, police found phone conversations revealing he been in contact with Solloway, the Daily Mail reported.

Ford said: "Messages between Solloway and the ringleader Prior show that she was part of it, she backed it and she was crucial to the recruitment of his team to carry it out."

Ford told the court the break-in came after Solloway, 59, and McKendrick had an affair that had lasted a "number of years".

Solloway, who runs a medical services firm, had also lent McKendrick a significant amount of money after his business ventures in Africa faced difficulties, Ford said.

Eventually McKendrick ended the affair and relations between the pair "went bitter", the court heard.

"[Solloway] says he promised her children, and said he would leave his wife for her," Ford said.

The prosecution claim Solloway became obsessed with retrieving the money she had given McKendrick, and hired Prior to rob his house. Mativenga was then allegedly hired as "muscle".

"Karine Solloway was never meant to be present at the robbery, but the messaging shows she was backing it," Ford said.

Solloway, of Park Crescent Mews West, London, denies conspiracy to rob.

Mativenga, of Tanners Close, St Albans, is also charged with conspiracy to rob, on the basis that he was the third man at the house, but he denies the charge.

The trial continues.