Brave daughter refused to open safe for armed criminals who posed as police to raid £2.5m Sandbanks home

8 November 2024, 11:55 | Updated: 8 November 2024, 12:20

An armed robber who tied up and threatened to shoot a mother and her daughter in their £2.5 million Dorset home has been sentenced to life in prison.

Ashley Fulton, 42, of no fixed address, descended on the Dorset property with his accomplice Aaron Evans, also 42, on February of 2023.

The incident, which took place at the family's home in Poole, saw 55-year-old Kerry Aitchison, who was home alone at the time, tied up by the pair who posed as police before forcing their way inside.

Her daughter Emily, 22, returned home during the raid, with the court hearing how the attackers dragged the terrified victim around the family home by her hair.

The court heard horrific details of how Evans - the ex-boyfriend of The Only Way Is Essex star Hannah Voyen - and Fulton threatened to burn her with an iron.

They also vowed to shoot her mother in front of her if she did not comply to their demands.

The firearm involved was later found to be an imitation.

After demanding the pair open the safe - to which both refused, Emily entered the wrong security code on two separate occasions, before telling the robbers the alarm would activate on a third wrong attempt.

On Friday, the pair were sentenced to life in prison for their crimes.

The pair were eventually convicted after leaving their DNA throughout the property.

Their getaway car was also caught on CCTV and later traced to Fulton’s address, with vapes recovered from the vehicle matching the robbers’ DNA from the crime scene.

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The force later found that Fulton had Googled the rare model of Patek Philippe watch the pair had stolen on his mobile, just two hours after committing the robbery.

Sentencing Fulton, also known as McFarland, at Bournemouth crown court, Judge William Mousley said: “You are a dangerous offender, you pose a significant risk of serious harm to the public based on the facts of this case, your previous convictions and your diagnosis of a personality disorder.”

Evans, of Berkhamsted, was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment in September for his part in the robbery.

He had already been handed a life sentence for armed robberies committed in 2004 and was out on licence at the time of the crime.

Mousley said Fulton would have to serve a minimum of nine years and 192 days before he could be considered for parole.

If released, the the convicted thief would remain on licence for the rest of his life.

Fulton’s girlfriend, Lacey Langton, 23, also admitted perverting the course of justice and possessing an identity document with improper intent.

Police said they obtained evidence that she fraudulently obtained a passport for Fulton under a false name, with the judge hearing the pair intended to travel to Morocco together.

Langton was jailed for 14 months.