Ashley Cole’s girlfriend begged ‘please someone’s coming’ in desperate 999 call as masked raiders smashed into mansion

A COURT has heard the chilling 999 call made by Ex-England footballer Ashley Cole’s girlfriend as masked raiders smashed into the couple’s Surrey mansion.

Sharon Canu made the desperate plea for help while hiding in a cupboard with her young son Jaxon after the gang, armed with a knife and sledgehammer, forced their way in at around 9.20pm on January 21, 2020.

The Italian model could be heard begging for officers to come immediately, telling a female operator: “Please, please someone is coming in the house.”

The operator replies, ‘We will get some help to you, okay? They are in the house at the moment?’ Sharon responded, ‘Yes’, adding: “They are coming up the stairs.”

A terrified scream is then heard as one of the raiders discovers Sharon and Jaxon in the wardrobe – and, according to Sharon’s police statement, snatches her phone, before hanging the 999 call up.  

The operator asks, ‘Hello? Hello?’, before realising the line is dead.

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However, Nottingham Crown Court has heard the discontinued call resulted in officers being sent to the house in Fetcham.

They rang the property’s entry buzzer which disturbed the burglars in the middle of the raid, causing them to flee over a back wall.

Sharon, now Cole’s fiancée, relived the horrifying moment her hiding place was discovered in a videotaped interview with detectives that was also played to the jury.

She told how she ran to Jaxon’s bedroom when she and Cole realised they were being burgled after spotting the men trying to gain entry, and Cole sprinted to their daughter Grace’s room to be with her.

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She managed to dial 999 in time and got into the wardrobe with her son, but added: “Seconds later one man opened the door.

“I screamed and got my son, and he went ‘shush’. He wanted my phone.”

Sharon said the man grabbed her phone and ended up the call, then walked away.

She said: “I walked out. I didn’t know if I was supposed to, but I needed to know where my daughter was.

“Ashley was there on his knees with his hands tied behind his back. My daughter is just standing there next to him. I went with my son still in my arms, and got my daughter.

“I knew what was going on, and what they were asking him. I just focused on my kids.

“I could see Ashley on the floor, and they were all on him. They were saying, ‘Give me the jewellery, take me to the safe’.

“I was worried because I knew we didn’t have much. They took Ashley, and I got very, very worried. I didn’t know if they were going to take him, hurt him, stab him?

“We were burgled two years ago. We don’t have anything. I said, ‘Do you not think we would give you everything? Take the car.’

“I thought they were never going to give up, because they think Ashley Cole is going to have a safe full of millions.”

I thought they were never going to give up, because they think Ashley Cole is going to have a safe full of millions

Sharon Canu, Ashley Cole’s fiancée

In his video interview, Cole broke down in tears in front of detectives at one point as he told how he believed he was ‘going to die’ when he realised the gang was trying to break into his home.

The former Chelsea and Arsenal defender said he’d showered and was about to watch a film on Netflix when he heard a “banging noise” on the outside of his balcony.

He added: “It was vibrating up the walls into my bedroom.

“I looked at Sharon on the left on me and she thought the same, ‘That noise is not normal, what is it?’”

Cole said he checked an app on his phone linked to his security cameras, and could see two figures outside, one of whom was trying to put a ladder up to his balcony.

He added: “This is why I should keep a weapon… a golf club in my bedroom.

“I could see two people, one in the shadows, one in the light. I said, ‘Sharon, there is someone in the garden trying to get on the balcony, basically call the police’.

“I opened the balcony door to see if I could scare them and as I look out I shout, ‘Hey!’ I swore at them and shouted ‘Help, help, someone is trying to get in my house!’

“They turned and went to run away, but then I see a minimum of four people start running from a bush, maybe 18 yards away.

I thought if I hid maybe they would be more angry. If I got my baby on my lap maybe they won’t harm us. I remember being on my knees

Ashley Cole

“They half shouted, ‘Agh!’ and charged towards my bottom windows.

“I knew now I am gonna die. I have kids in the house, I have no help, it is just us now.

“I tried to shout as loud as I could, but also tried to get back in the house to collect Sharon.

“I have pulled the door and locked it, and said, ‘Sharon, there are people coming in the house, get the kids and call the police.’”

Cole told how he then ran “left” to get his daughter Grace from her room, while Sharon sprinted “right” to get Jaxon.

He added: “I picked her out of bed. She was shook and a little bit scared. I didn’t see Sharon, and assumed she was hiding.

“I thought if I hid maybe they would be more angry. If I got my baby on my lap maybe they won’t harm us. I remember being on my knees.”

‘BROKE DOWN IN TEARS’

At that point in the interview, Cole broke down in tears and placed his hand to his face, saying: “I said it wouldn’t affect me… but Jesus.”

The detective, who wasn’t named in court, told him: “Take your time. You’re doing really well.”

Cole continued: “I was on my knees and waited to be either killed or… I would never see my kids again.”

He then described hearing “loads” of footsteps running up the stairs and a window smash, and recalled thinking. ‘I have to be calm, to not show I am scared. I was.

“I did not want to show my daughter I was scared for my life.

“I did not know where Sharon or my son was. I was praying they had hid, and she had managed to call the police.”

The court heard that four “big” men then came upstairs. One spotted Cole on his knees with his daughter, and ran straight for him.

Cole told the officer: “He said, ‘Get the f*** up’.

“I have a lot of Irish friends, and he was definitely Irish-spoken. He was telling me, ‘Give me all your f****** jewels, where are your f****** kettles (watches)?

“Give me your jewellery boxes and take me to your safe.’

“I said, ‘I don’t have a safe’, and he grabbed me around the neck with a glove.”

Cole was then ordered to let go of his child, but replied: “I am not leaving my little girl here.

“I am feeling a little bit strong. I was like, ‘No, I am not going to leave my baby.”

Jurors heard that two more men then entered, with the raider holding Cole’s neck starting to squeeze it.

He was asked again for jewellery and ‘kettles’, and quizzed as to where Sharon was.

I am not going to leave my baby

Ashley Cole

The man then told him: “Don’t you f****** look at me. I am not going to f****** hurt you, but give me your jewels and kettles.”

Cole added the man started getting “forceful”, and he told him ‘Just take everything, leave me and my family alone’ – before Sharon suddenly appeared at the door.

He said: “She is saying, ‘Leave him alone, leave him alone’. I don’t know if someone has brought her there.”

Cole described how the man then secured his hand behind his back with “thick” cable ties. He said: “It went really tight. He picked me up by the arms in my pants. I thought, ‘What is going on? What is going to happen?’

“I am going to lose this battle because they are not going to believe I don’t have a lot in the house.

“I can see Sharon and Jaxon. Sharon is crying. My son sees they have tied my hands. I looked at him and saw his face. He was white. Not crying, just like, ‘Pow’.

“One of the guys was hyper. It was like he was on drugs. He was saying he wanted to cut my hands. He wanted to cut me straight away basically.”

‘GIVE ME HIS FINGERS’

Cole, wearing a black T-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms, calmly told police how he thought he was going to be ‘set alight’ or murdered in front of his children.

He said: “The aggressive guy was shouting. ‘You are f****** lying to me, I am gonna do you.

“He kept saying, ‘Let me cut his hands. Let me cut his fingers. Give me his fingers’.

“Are they going to torture me?”

Cole, who said the gang was armed with a sledgehammer and at least one knife, was then taken downstairs and asked where his ‘cleaning products’ were.

He added: “I am thinking they are gonna put bleach on my face or burn me or set me alight.

“Then he gets Febreze and sprays it all over my hands and gets me back upstairs. Sharon and the kids have been moved from the bedroom to the walk-in wardrobe.

“She is begging, ‘We don’t have anything, please let us go, take the car keys and go’.”

Cole said the apparent leader of the gang started getting angrier and angrier, and moving his hand towards the raider who wanted to cut his fingers and toes with a set of what he described as ‘electrician’s pliers’.

The end result is they are going to kill me in front of my kids, or take out their frustration on my kids or girlfriend because there was more to give, and I hadn’t given them enough

Ashley Cole

Suddenly, the police rang Cole’s buzzer – and the men “literally ran off”.

He said: “I was happy they had run off and not touched my kids.

“They wanted more. The end result is they are going to kill me in front of my kids, or take out their frustration on my kids or girlfriend because there was more to give, and I hadn’t given them enough.

“As soon as they got alerted, they ran. I ran downstairs, stil in my pants and I see the police.

“I pressed the buzzer, opened the door, and Sharon and the kids are behind me.

“I said, ‘They have gone, please help. They’ve just left.”

Cole told detectives the situation was “not normal to us”, adding: “It was like a film. We do not see this type of stuff.”

The men fled with five designer watches, a BMW smart key, headphones, a Gucci handbag, and mobile telephones.

TRIAL

One of the alleged raiders, Kurtis Dilks, of Clifton, Nottingham, is on trial accused of robbery.

The 33-year-old, who denies the offence, is also charged with conspiracy to rob the home of Hull City footballer Tom Huddlestone while he was playing an away game .

He also charged with conspiracy to burgle, after the £3.5m diamond-encrusted Portland Tiara – an item described as of ‘significant historical importance’ by prosecutors – was stolen from its glass case while on display in a gallery on the Welbeck Estate, Notts.

Eight other men are in the dock along with Dilks accused of being “to a greater or lesser extent involved in a series of extremely serious, high profile, carefully planned and at times ruthlessly executed burglaries and violent robberies” between October 2018 and July 2019.

A tenth defendant, Andrew Stokes, is charged with converting criminal property – but not in relation to the alleged raids.

Opening the case previously, prosecutor Michael Brady QC said Dilks “continued this pattern” when he was involved in the later robbery of Cole, now first team coach at Everton, and Ms Canu, adding: “The presence of householders did not deter these defendants.

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“They were armed with weapons and the means to subdue them. The presence of children did not perturb them.”

The case continues.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk