After an eight-week trial, two men have been found guilty of a raid in which a “highly paid” insurance executive was brutally attacked in his £3million mansion, shot and “left for dead”.
The two men, who will be sentenced the week beginning January 23, are facing a “very substantial sentence” following the events at the victim’s home, Judge David Turner QC said.
Gunman Charlie Simms, 22, of North Road, Great Yeldham, was found guilty of attempted murder, aggravated burglary and possessing a fire arm with intent to endanger life, and Christopher Bergin, 28 of Hawkwood Road, Sible Hedingham, was convicted of aggravated burglary, wounding with intent and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life,
Suffolk Free Press reports.
A third man, Kalebh Shreeve, 24, of Gibson Road, Sible Hedingham, walked free from the court after being found not guilty of aggravated burglary, wounding with intent, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, and possessing a firearm while committing an offence.
Timothy Mardon, 51, was awoken in the early hours of the morning at his home in Sible Hedingham, Essex, on February 6, to find intruders outside his house.
The men, armed with a shot-gun, shot through Mardon’s locked bedroom door, hitting him in the leg, before bursting into his bedroom.
Mardon was subjected to 30-minutes of threats that he would be killed, which were all recorded in a 999-call that he made.
Since the attack, in which a watch worth thousands of dollars and a wallet containing UK and foreign currency were taken, Mardon is said to have been left in a “living nightmare.”
He would have died from his injuries without hospital treatment, the court was told.
Richard Christie, QC, prosecuting, told the court that the men “smashed their way in, blasted him in the leg with a shotgun, threatened to kill him and left him for dead.”
The men were mistakenly looking for drugs, and were heard on the recording shouting, “Where’s the weed at? Where’s the money at? Where’s weed at or I’ll blow your face off.”
Mardon, who told the court that he had a “highly paid job in insurance,” said he directed the gunman to his wallet, watch and classic cars worth £70,000 to “placate him” as he feared for his life.
A jury of seven men and five women took 17 and a half hours to reach their verdicts at the trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
As the judge addressed the jury, a fight broke out between the two defendants, ending with Bergin being removed from the dock.
Charges of wounding with intent and possessing a firearm while committing an offence against Simms and an offence of possessing a firearm while committing an offence against Bergin were ordered to lie on the file.
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