Jacqueline Jossa has broken her silence over the terrifying raid on her holiday villa in Marbella earlier this month, revealing her fears that her children had been kidnapped.
Two masked burglars broke into the holiday apartment where the EastEnders actress, 31, and her TOWIE star ex-husband Dan Osborne, 33, were staying with their children.
They stole £20,000 worth of jewellery and belongings, including her engagement ring, while they slept.
And speaking after the robbery, Jacqueline recalled the heartbreaking moment she thought her children had been kidnapped when she came upon the robbers in the middle of the night.
Detailing his terrifying experience with The sunJacqueline said: “I was shaking and couldn’t speak because I was more scared than I’d ever been in my life and I immediately thought, ‘Oh my God! The children! Was she holding a child in her hand? Did I see a little girl’s leg?’ I couldn’t think straight and I was panicking.”
Jacqueline Jossa has broken her silence over the terrifying raid on her Marbella holiday villa earlier this month, revealing her fears that her children had been kidnapped.
Two masked burglars broke into the holiday apartment where the EastEnders actress, 31, and her TOWIE star husband Dan Osborne, 33, were staying with their children.
The star went on to say that after realising they were being robbed, she immediately woke up her husband Dan, who ran downstairs and grabbed a pool cue to protect his family.
However, the robbers had already fled after spotting Jacqueline and escaped through the back door before being taken away in a waiting getaway car.
The actress then ‘frantically ran’ to check on her children and make sure they were safe and despite seeing them curled up in their beds, she had to touch them to ‘make sure’ they were there.
Reliving the moment, she continued: “Every time I close my eyes and think about it, I imagine them running away with a child. It could have been a missing persons case and that would have been a totally different story.”
The star added that she was “thankful” that she was the one who stumbled upon the robbers, because if one of the children had seen the masked men, they could have been “scarred for life”, with Jacqueline adding that she herself is probably scarred too.
She also breathed a sigh of relief that the situation did not take a more serious turn when she later saw one of the attackers carrying something “long and sharp” on CCTV, and Jacqueline was unsure whether it was a knife or a “huge screwdriver”.
The EastEnders favourite shared with the publication that things could have “gone horribly wrong” if the men had confronted her or Dan with a gun, commenting that this could have been “a completely different story”.
Meanwhile, Jacqueline slammed the ruthless thieves and also revealed that they took her five-year-old daughter’s tooth fairy money.
Speaking after the robbery, Jacqueline recalled the heartbreaking moment she thought her children had been kidnapped when she stumbled upon the robbers in the middle of the night.
‘I was shaking and couldn’t speak because I was more scared than I’d ever been in my life and I immediately thought, “Oh my God! The children! Was she holding a child in her hand?”
The actress then ‘frantically ran’ to check on her children and make sure they were safe and despite seeing them curled up in their beds, she had to touch them to ‘make sure’ they were there.
Meanwhile, Jacqueline slammed the ruthless thieves and also revealed they took her five-year-old daughter’s tooth fairy money (pictured with Mia, 5).
Sharing her anger, she ranted.:I’m so angry about what they took from the children: Mia’s little purse. It makes me very sad, honestly, sadder than anything else. She lost a tooth, so she had some money in her purse that the Tooth Fairy had given her. Her purse was completely open, and even the money had been taken out of her purse. Bless her!
The soap star and Dan decided not to reveal the truth to their young family and instead replaced the stolen money with Mia, without the young woman realizing what happened to the tooth fairy’s money.
The couple reportedly woke up to see the burglars rummaging through the Marbella property. Although no one was hurt, sources say Jacqueline and Dan were left “shocked” by the encounter.
Jacqueline, who plays Lauren Branning in the BBC soap, had been documenting their holiday for her Instagram followers, and the trip saw them travelling with their extended families along with daughters Ella, nine, and Mia, along with Dan’s son Teddy, 10.
While she was also seen enjoying a day at the beach in Marbella with her daughters amid their two-week getaway in the sun.
Spanish police are reportedly investigating the raid, while a vehicle belonging to a security company was seen outside the villa.
In addition to the engagement ring, the thugs allegedly stole purses and wads of cash from her children’s backpacks. They are said to have hidden the theft from the children so as not to scare them.
Jacqueline had been documenting their holiday for her Instagram followers, and the trip saw them travelling with their extended families along with daughters Ella, nine, and Mia, five, along with Dan’s son Teddy, 10.
While she was also seen enjoying a day at the beach in Marbella with her girls amid their two-week getaway in the sun.
On Tuesday, Jacqueline and Dan appeared visibly distressed as they left a Marbella police station after filing a complaint.
Representatives for Jossa have been contacted for comment.
A friend told The Sun about the robbery: “The villa has good security and Jacqueline and Dan have CCTV. They believe it took the burglars about ten minutes to gain entry. It’s possible the men were in the property for 15 minutes. Jacqueline said there was absolute silence. It was only when the flash of a torch woke her up that they realised something had happened.”
On Tuesday, Jacqueline and Dan appeared visibly distressed as they left a police station in Marbella after filing a complaint.
The couple leaned on each other and Dan wrapped a protective arm around his wife.
The couple tied the knot in 2017, shortly before EastEnders bosses confirmed her exit from the soap.
She then briefly returned to the show in late 2022 for Dot Cotton’s funeral following the death of actress June Brown earlier that year, before making a permanent return in October last year.
The robbery is the latest in a series of high-profile burglaries and muggings in which Nick Grimshaw and his mother were allegedly gassed at their rented villa in Ibiza last week (pictured in London in February 2017)
He A high-profile robbery comes after another BBC star, former Radio 1 DJ Nick GrimshawHe was targeted by burglars who allegedly gassed him and his 81-year-old mother Eileen at their rented villa in Ibiza in order to rob the couple.
The DJ was celebrating his 40th birthday with his family when the property was attacked by the gang who have targeted several villas occupied by wealthy tourists over the past year.
Nick and his mother Eileen were sedated after the gang pumped sedative gas into the property where the star was sleeping, and waited for it to take effect before entering wearing hazmat suits and turning the villa upside down.
No one is said to have been injured in the incident, although some items are believed to have been stolen in the raid.