Coronation Street and TV legend ‘feared she would die’ in terrifying home invasion
Coronation Street star Stephanie Beacham revealed she feared for her safety after being burgled in her home.
Last year the actress, known for her role as Martha Fraser and starring alongside Dame Joan Collins in the 80s series Dynasty, was forced to hand over money and jewellery after David Wilson broke into her home.
It is said that Wilson raised a jemmy – a bar with a claw at the end – in front of Stephanie and told her ‘don’t look at me.’
During Tuesday’s (January 30) Good Morning Britain Stephanie opened up about the frightening ordeal.
‘There I am, it’s Sunday afternoon – you don’t get burgled on a Sunday afternoon, do you?’ she said.
‘Luckily I was dressed for gardening, which meant I had a really dodgy jumper on and no jewellery and probably didn’t look very much like moi.
‘Anyway, I heard a noise downstairs and I thought, ‘Well, must be I’ve got an assistant, a friend’. Then I said, ‘Hello?’ and I looked over [and] there he was.’
She added: ‘There it was – crowbar over my head, and then the corny dialogue, “Give me your money, give me your jewellery, don’t look at me. I wish you weren’t here.”‘
She continued on the ITV morning show that she believed she was going to die and claimed she was ‘an absolute wimp, total wimp. And I gave him my money.’
In February 2023, Wilson pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary over the break-in last year, and a separate ordeal back in 2021.
‘During the course of this incident, which was terrifying for Ms Beacham, when in the circumstances of which she found herself, she had real fears for her life’, Prosecutor John Traversi told Southward Crown Court.
He was sentenced to 10 years and five months.
The court also discovered that Stephanie has since doubled her sleeping medication, regularly experiences nightmares, panic attacks and won’t walk her dog after dark.
‘He ran up towards her holding up to her face what he saw as a metal bar with a claw at the end, some two feet in length, and what she described as undoubtedly a jemmy, as used by burglars since time immemorial to gain access to properties and steal therein’, Traversi added, describing the moment Wilson broke in.
Stephanie reprised her role as Martha Fraser in Coronation Street last year.
She returned to the cobbles to help out with a local AmDram play, but found herself questioning her feelings for Ken Barlow (William Roache), who she had an affair with back in the day.