A man who was a member of a four-person gang that used a sledgehammer to break into the home of former England footballer Ashley Cole and threatened to cut off his fingers has been found guilty.
Kurtis Dilks, 35, was found guilty today at Nottingham Crown Court for holding Mr. Cole and his girlfriend at knifepoint at his £3 million property in Fetcham, Surrey, and tied them up with cable ties.
The newspaper courier, who is from Clifton, Nottingham, is accused of conspiring to commit three burglaries, four thefts, three robberies, and two counts of converting stolen property.
The court heard that despite his denial of all accusations, he now faces jail time.
Cole, a former defender for Arsenal, Chelsea, and Derby, told police that he “knew now I was going to die” as he recalled how the masked raiders bound his hands behind his back in January 2020 while he was holding his young daughter.
When the raiders broke into the house while Mr. Cole was holding his young daughter and watching Netflix, they bound his hands.
When police unexpectedly arrived, the gang ran off while threatening to use electricians pliers to cut off his fingers.
According to testimony given in a previous court case, they forced him downstairs and gave him the impression that they were going to burn him alive or throw acid in his face to prepare him for the ordeal.
Mr. Cole sobbed during an interview with detectives that was played to the court during a previous hearing as he stated: “I was on my knees, waiting to either be killed… My children won’t ever see me again.
“The belligerent person was shouting.”
You are lying to me, and I’m going to do you.
Let me cut his hands, he kept saying. I’ll cut off his fingers. I want his fingers, please.
Cole, 41, told police that he feared being “set alight or murdered” in front of his children Grace and Jaxon, as well as partner Sharon Canu, during the raid on his opulent property.
Cole described how the men in camouflage clothing and balaclavas broke into his home late at night as he and Ms. Canu were starting to watch a movie in their bedroom in a video interview he gave to detectives that was shown to the jury.
As he helplessly watched the gang run across his lawn, Cole said he felt like he was “going to die,” adding, “I have kids in the house, I have no help, it is just us now.”
“I am thinking they are going to put bleach on my face, burn me, or set me on fire,” he said to the detectives.
Strangely, one of the gang members moved the man back upstairs after spraying Febreze, an odour remover, over his hands in an apparent attempt to obliterate DNA evidence. Ms. Canu then ‘begged’ the men to leave.
The family’s nightmare came to an end when the police showed up and activated the entry buzzer, which made the robbers “literally run off.”
Cole said: “I was happy they hadn’t touched my kids.” They fled with five designer watches, a BMW smart key, headphones, a Gucci handbag, and mobile phones. It resembled a movie.
Kurtis Dilks was the only member of the gang responsible for the robbery to be apprehended, according to evidence presented at Nottingham Crown Court. His DNA was found on the cable ties that were used to restrain Cole and his partner Sharon Canu.
The 35-year-old courier claimed that because the cable ties and knife found at the scene in Fetcham, Surrey, had previously been taken from his van, his DNA was present on them.
Dilks and five other people were found guilty of participating in a series of robberies and break-ins that were “ruthlessly executed” between October 2018 and January 2020.
Along with the assault on Cole, Dilks and co-defendants Ashley Cumberpatch and Andrew Macdonald were also found guilty of plotting to rob the wife of former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tom Huddlestone in May 2019.
The heists involved violence and threats if the gang’s targets were at home, and they targeted the homes of “carefully chosen individuals perceived to have significant personal wealth,” including company directors.
He will receive his punishment on Friday.
Mr. Cole and his partner Sharon Canu are likely to “feel the after effects of what has happened for quite some time,” according to Detective Inspector Gayle Hart, the senior investigating officer in the case for Nottinghamshire Police.
The court heard from Mr. Cole and his partner in their testimony, which was very powerful, where they genuinely believed they were going to die, given the circumstances, DI Hart said in response to what the couple went through.
“It was absolutely horrifying, and the effects are still being felt today.”
People want to feel secure in their homes, but that can be challenging.
It’s the same for all the victims, really; they’re still dealing with the fallout from these intruders’ invasion of their homes, and it hasn’t gotten any better for them at all.
They are all still experiencing the effects of what happened and will likely continue to do so for a while because it was so horrific.
DI Hart said of the gang, “They are definitely dangerous.” We have heard about some of the reconnaissance that was done on some of the victims, so there has clearly been some planning in this case.
They were very well prepared, from the clothing that made it impossible to be recognized to the weapons they carried to the ladders and sledgehammers they used to break into the building to the steps they took to attempt to clean up the crime scenes in an effort to remove any forensic evidence.
“A very well-organized group of individuals who will undoubtedly resort to violence.”
So, yes, a very hazardous group of individuals.
When asked if she had any advice for anyone thinking about carrying out attacks on prominent figures, DI Hart responded, “I would certainly say that Nottinghamshire Police have done some excellent work with regard to this case.”
They persisted in their tenacity, dedication, and diligence in bringing this case to a courtroom resolution.
So rest assured that we will keep an eye out for anyone else who may be organizing something similar.
“We will hunt them down and bring charges against them.”
After police raided a jeweler’s 15 minutes after goods stolen from a footballer’s house were dropped off at the location, a stroke of “absolutely fantastic luck” enabled detectives to apprehend a violent gang.
Following discovering connections between the store and the 2018 theft of the Portland Tiara from the Harley Gallery in Nottinghamshire, the Nottinghamshire Police requested a search warrant for Paris Jewels in Hatton Garden, London.
On May 2, 2019, the police executed the search warrant without being aware of any connections to the night before’s robbery at the Caythorpe, Nottinghamshire, home of former Tottenham Hotspur and Derby County midfielder Tom Huddlestone.
Officers discovered a bag of stolen, expensive items, including an FA Cup runners-up medal, under the counter in the store, according to Detective Inspector Gayle Hart, who oversaw the investigation.
Only 15 minutes after the bag was left at the address, according to CCTV footage, police arrived.
In reference to the execution of the warrant, DI Hart stated: “The inquiry team traveled to London, and while we were there, we actually identified a jewelers we thought was likely to be involved.”
“Shortly after, we returned to that jeweler—Paris Jewels—and carried out a search warrant. It was during this time that we discovered some stolen goods, which we later determined to be the majority of the stolen goods from the Caythorpe burglary.
So, “we realized that actually, that was a tie-up robbery in Nottinghamshire, and that the goods had appeared at Paris Jewels within 12 hours.”
So, the investigation was really opened up to look at other burglaries that had occurred in Nottinghamshire and their movements within London. We discovered that there was a significant pattern there.
The investigation was then expanded to include additional suspects.
When asked about the coincidence that connected the cases, DI Hart said: “It was a bit of absolutely fantastic luck.”
This was actually the innovation that connected all of these tasks.
The Caythorpe tie-up robbery actually happened on May 1, but since the investigation team was at the time in London, we planned to carry out our warrant execution on May 2. And that is exactly what we did.
“We entered the jewelry store that morning just after 11 o’clock, and we’ve since learned that the property from that burglary in Caythorpe had clearly been delivered in the early hours of that morning, immediately after that burglary.
Then, we found it in the store only about 15 minutes after it had arrived there.