EastEnders star Jacqueline Jossa has said she was left “trembling and couldn’t really speak” following a break-in at her holiday home in Spain.
The actress, who won 2019’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! and is known for playing Lauren Branning on the BBC One soap, shares two children with her husband, former The Only Way Is Essex (TOWIE) cast member Dan Osborne.
Jossa told The Sun on Sunday that they were all staying in Marbella, along with Osborne’s son from a previous relationship, when she woke up last Monday to see two masked men in the property.
Jossa alleges £20,000 worth of jewels and cash were taken, including an engagement ring, and one of the men was carrying something “long and sharp” that she was unable to make out clearly.
Jossa said: “I was trembling and couldn’t really speak, as I was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life and instantly thought: ‘Oh my God. The kids.
“‘Did he have a child in his hand? Did I see a little girl’s leg?’ I couldn’t think straight and was panicking.”
She said she then alerted Osborne, and he went “downstairs and grabbed a pool cue from the pool table” before they fled.
Jossa said: “I was frantically running around to all the rooms to make sure all the kids were in their beds, but they were all fast asleep.
“I had to reassure myself, touch them, to make sure they were there.
“That was my first thought.
“It wobbles me a bit, because I think it could have been so different, as one of the kids could have woken up and seen a man holding something sharp and in a balaclava.”
The police in Malaga were notified by the family, who had CCTV of the incident.
Jossa’s ordeal follows the TV and radio presenter Nick Grimshaw being targeted by thieves in Ibiza as he slept after celebrating his 40th birthday with friends.
Nobody was hurt during the incident, the PA news agency understands.
Source: Press Association