Burglar who tried to smash his way into Anya Taylor-Joy’s bedroom jailed for 3 years

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LONDON (AP) — An armed robber who smashed into a luxury London home where Hollywood star Anya Taylor-Joy was staying and tried to force his way into the actor's bedroom with a crowbar was sentenced to three years in prison, officials said Wednesday.

Prosecutors said that the way Kirk Holdrick and another masked man tried to get into the star's bedroom, rather than steal expensive items in the house, suggested they intended to target Taylor-Joy and her husband personally.

The “Queen's Gambit” star and her husband, musician Malcolm McRae, were staying at a London house on Feb. 12, 2023 when Holdrick and another man, who were both wearing balaclavas and gloves, scaled a wall and broke into the property.

McRae locked the door of their bedroom before the intruders tried to prise the door open. The burglars fled after McRae shouted out that he had a gun.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Holdrick was sentenced to three years in prison for the case at London's Woolwich Crown Court on Dec. 12. The details of the case were reported Tuesday by the Press Association news agency, which obtained the sentencing documents.

Holdrick, who was already serving other sentences for separate armed robberies, initially denied being responsible for the burglary but later changed his plea to guilty.