A top insurance executive was shot by a “brutal” burglar who mistook him for a drug dealer and threatened to “blow his brains out,” a court has been told.
Timothy Mardon, division president at Ace Tempest Re, was blasted in the thigh through a closed bedroom door and was left with “life-changing injuries” by three raiders of his Essex mansion on February 6, the
BBC reported.
Richard Christie QC, prosecuting, told Chelmsford Crown Court that Mardon called the police during the ordeal and operators later heard on the line a “massive blast”, the report said.
“This was a brutal attack, Mr Mardon was asleep, was woken and looked outside to see men circling the windows. He called 999 and the phone line remained open,” the
Bury Free Press quoted Christie as saying.
“They smashed their way in, blasted him in the leg with a shotgun, threatened to kill him and left him for dead. They left him in a living nightmare,” he added.
Christie said accused Charlie Simms, the “most brutal” of the three burglars, was the one who shot Mardon.
“As Mr Mardon lay there with blood spurting out of his leg he (Simms) said ‘Tell me where the safe is’ then began to count down’,” the
Telegraph quoted Christie as saying. “Mr Mardon was terrified he was going to be killed.”
According to the report, a voice recorded on tape repeated “Where’s the weed at? Where’s the money at? I’ll blow your face off – I’ll blow your f***ing brains out.”
Christie told the court that Mardon “had nothing to do with drugs” and had a “high-powered job in insurance.”
Mardon, who lost 20% of his blood when found by the police, would have died without the help of emergency services, Christie said.
“In those few minutes, his happy life had turned into a real living nightmare that has continued since that time,” the
BBC quoted him as saying.
Simms and the two other burglars, Kalebh Shreeve and Christopher Bergin, have denied the charges against them including attempted murder. The trial is expected to last for several weeks.
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