Emily Aitchison was held at gunpoint by Ashley Fulton (Picture: BNPS/Emily Aitchison)
A 22-year-old’s quick thinking saved her and her mother from being shot during a raid on their home by robbers pretending to be police officers.
Emily Aitchison was held at gunpoint by Ashley Fulton with her mother Kerry at their Poole Harbour home in February 2023.
Fulton was joined by a friend, who for legal reason cannot be named, both wearing fake police uniform and tricked their way into the home.
They pulled Emily around the house by her hair and threatened to burn her with an iron.
They also told her they would shoot her 55-year-old mother in front of her if she didn’t open the safe.
Bravely, the women refused with Emily wrongly entering the code twice before telling them if she did it a third time it would trigger the alarm.
The robbers panicked and fled but not before ransacking the £2.5 million house and stealing more than £200,000 of luxury watches, designer handbags, jewellery, cash and their mobile phones.
They pulled Emily around the house by her hair and threatened to burn her with an iron (Picture: Linkedin/Emily Aitchison)
Mrs Aitchison’s husband Mark is the chief executive officer of Colten Care, which owns 21 care homes in the south of England.
Fulton and his accomplice said they were doing door to door enquiries about a rape on the seafront two days before.
But as Mrs Aitchinson leaned in to look at their ID one put a gloved hand over her mouth and said ‘if you shut up and behave yourself you won’t get hurt’.
Mike Mason, prosecuting, told Bournemouth Crown Court Mrs Aitchison was pushed on the floor ‘quite violently’ and her hands and feet were tied.
Daughter Emily then returned home from lunch and the robbers began threatening her.
Mr Mason said: ‘One said to her “we are f***ing robbing you, you’re going to end up dead” and dragged her through the hall. She saw her mum lying on the ground with her hands behind her back.
‘Her mum was crying and said “you need to do as they ask, this is real”.
Fulton was handed a life sentence (Picture: Dorset Police/BNPS)
‘One said “if you don’t tell us the key to your safe, we are going to murder your mum”. They put the gun to Emily’s head and said to Kerry “this is your last chance, if you don’t tell us we are going to kill your daughter”.
‘Mrs Aitchison told the two men “you are the scum of the earth, that’s our future, our investment, you have ruined people’s lives by what you have done today” – it takes quite a bit of guts to say that.’
Fulton and his accomplice made a number of errors and left behind a trail of evidence and clues that led police to their door.
They left their DNA all over the property and their getaway car was caught on CCTV and found to be registered to Fulton’s address.
When police found the vehicle they recovered vapes inside with their DNA on.
Mobile phone records later showed Fulton …read more
Source:: Metro
