The brave daughter of a company director refused to open the safe during an armed robbery at her family’s luxury home in Sandbanks, southern England.
Robber Ashley Fulton, 42, forced his way into the home of Emily Hutchinson and her mother Kerry at gunpoint in February 2023, aided by another criminal posing as a police officer. They then tied the two women, who were alone in the house, by the hands and feet and threatened them with extreme violence if they did not open the family safe.
But Emily refused their demands by entering the wrong code several times, knowing that a third time would set off the alarm for their Poole Harbour home. The robbers spotted the alarm and gave up and fled, the court heard. Bournemouth judge said Fulton was a significant risk to the public and sentenced him to life in prison, but the sentence was postponed due to his mental health problems and medication.
The robbers then locked the women in the toilet and left, but not before taking around £200,000 in watches, jewelry and other valuables from the house. But they left behind a series of clues that later helped police identify and locate them.
Police also found online orders Fulton had placed for ‘police badges’ which the pair used to enter Hutchinson’s home. Ms Hutchinson’s husband Mark is a director of Colten Care, which owns 21 care homes for the elderly in southern England.
Fulton and his accomplice carried out the robbery on February 21, 2023, posing as police officers. Ms Hutchinson, a personal trainer and therapist, told the court the psychological trauma the robbery had had on her and her daughter.
She said: “Home should be a place where you feel safe, but for me and my daughter it became a place where we could have been killed. We are no longer ourselves because of this experience.” But the sentencing has now been postponed after the main robber’s lawyer, Hugh Mullen, said the defendant’s mental health had deteriorated in recent months.
Mullen added that his client was receiving extensive medication but was able to attend court proceedings. Judge William Mosley admitted that “it would be wrong to sentence at this time” the defendant, who had previously been convicted of robbery, writes the local network Daily Mail.