The courageous daughter of a wealthy company director refused to open a safe for two armed robbers during a terrifying gunpoint raid at her family’s £2.5million Sandbanks home, it has emerged.

Ashley Fulton, 42, invaded the home of Emily Aitchison and her mother Kerry at gunpoint in February of 2023. He was joined in the raid by a friend who for legal reasons cannot be named.

The pair posed as police officers before barging into the luxury property and tying 55-year-old physio and personal trainer Kerry – who had been home alone at the time – by her hands and feet.

When daughter Emily arrived, the robbers dragged her around the house by her hair, threatened to burn her with an iron and chillingly said they would shoot her mother in front of her unless she gave them the access code to the family’s safe.

Bravely, Emily refused to carry out their demands and wrongly entering the code twice before telling them if she did it a third time it would trigger the alarm at their Poole Harbour house. The intruders then panicked and fled, a court heard.

Sitting at Bournemouth Crown Court, the judge said Fulton posed a ‘significant risk to the public’ and gave him a life sentence, but he could get parole in nine years.

His sentencing had been delayed because of his mental health and he was ‘heavily medicated’ so the judge agreed it would be wrong to sentence him in October.

The robbers locked the women in the lavatory and fled but not before ransacking the £2.5million house and stealing more than £200,000 of luxury watches, designer handbags, jewellery, cash and their mobile phones.

But the career criminals made a number of errors and left behind a trail of evidence and clues that led police to their door.

They left their DNA all over the property and their getaway car was caught on CCTV and found to be registered to Fulton’s address. When police found the vehicle they recovered vapes inside with their DNA on.

Mobile phone records later showed Fulton, 42, had Googled the exact rare model of Patek Philippe watch they had stolen two hours after the heist.

Police also found online orders made by Fulton for police ID wallets and lanyards the pair used to trick their way into the Aitchison home.

Sitting at Bournemouth Crown Court Judge William Mousley said Fulton would have to serve a minimum of nine years and 192 days before he can be considered for parole.

If and when released he would remain on licence for the rest of his life.

Mrs Aitchison’s husband Mark is the chief executive officer of Colten Care, which owns 21 care homes in the south of England.

Fulton and his accomplice went to their home address at 1pm on February 21, 2023, posing as police officers.

Mrs Aitchison, a physio and personal trainer, had previously told the court of the ongoing psychological harm the terrifying raid had on her and her daughter.

She said: ‘Home should feel a safe place, a sanctuary, a haven. For me it’s a crime scene where I thought myself and my daughter would be killed. I am a mere shadow of my former self because of this violent intrusion.

‘Gone is the positive, vibrant outgoing woman and in her place is someone I don’t recognise.’

Emily, an estate agent whose father is a wealthy company director, had been unable to leave the house for the first six weeks and cried every day for a month. She suffered panic attack and struggled to return to work.

The court heard Fulton had been diagnosed with a personality disorder and put on medication, but that he was suitable for the normal sentencing procedure.

Sentencing Fulton, Judge 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.

‘The degree of seriousness is very high. All these factor merit a sentence of life imprisonment. Unlike your co-accused you are not subject to a life licence or recall.

‘There’s nothing I have read or heard about your personal situation to provide any reasonable cause to consider any alternative to life in prison.’

His sentencing was delayed after his solicitor Hugh Mullan told the court that his client’s mental health had ‘significantly and substantially deteriorated’ in recent weeks.

Mullan added that his client was ‘heavily medicated’ but lucid and able to listen to proceedings, with Judge William Mousley KC agreeing that it would be wrong to sentence the repeat offender at this time.

Norman Brennan, a retired police officer and campaigner for victims of crime, said afterwards: ‘People might think it is somewhat convenient that this violent criminal is now using the mental health card just as he is facing a long stretch in prison.

‘He didn’t appear to be suffering from mental health issues when he held up two women at gunpoint in their own home and put them through a terrifying ordeal before stealing £200,000 worth of property which hasn’t been recovered.’

Speaking to the family at the sentencing, the judge said: ‘I want to share my strong feelings of support for the Aitchison family. These proceedings have taken a long time and I am sorry for that. I hope you can start to move forward and as far as you can put some of this behind you.’

Fulton admitted two counts of robbery, possession of an imitation firearm, three offences of fraud and three of possessing ID documents with improper intent, one of possession of an article for use in fraud and possession of cocaine.

His accomplice – who is not being named for legal reasons – pleaded guilty to two robberies, possession of an imitation firearm and one count of fraud for a false passport and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Fulton’s girlfriend, Lacey Langton, 23, admitted perverting the course of justice and possessing an identity document with improper intent. She was jailed for 14 months.