Stoned burglars shoot millionaire with sawn-off shotgun after mistaking him for weed farmer

A pair of bungling, stoned burglars shot a millionaire businessman during a break-in at his country mansion after mistaking him for a drug-dealing cannabis farmer.

Charlie Simms, 23, and Christopher Bergin, 27, shot insurance company boss Tim Mardon in the leg with a sawn-off shotgun during the raid on his home in Sible Hedingham, Essex.

The father-of-two was left to bleed to death and was only saved when attending officers used a tourniquet on his injury.

The pair were jailed for a total of 34 years at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday (23 January) after being found guilty of attempted murder, aggravated burglary, and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The court heard how Simms and Bergin had been drinking heavily and smoking drugs while at a house party in the village, before deciding to raid Mardon's property in Rectory Road in the mistaken belief cannabis was being grown there.

Mardon, far from being a drug dealer, actually works in insurance and spends most of his time in Bermuda.

His attackers forced their way into his Grade II-listed mansion in the early hours of 6 February 2016 and threatened the 51 year-old, who had locked himself in a bedroom.

Mardon, whose wife and two daughters were out of the house at the time, was then shot through the bedroom door, suffering a serious leg injury and an arterial bleed.

Simms and Bergin made off with the victim's £3,000 ($3,750, €3,500) watch and a few hundred pounds of foreign currency.

DCI Leighton Hammett, of Essex Police, said: "Charlie Simms and Christopher Bergin are violent, dangerous men who deserve to be behind bars.

"The severity of this attack, which was conjured up on a whim following a heavy night of drinking and smoking drugs, is reflected in the length of their sentences.

"Essex will be a safer place now Simms and Bergin are behind bars, and they will now spend the foreseeable future reflecting on their crime and the impact their actions have had."

Simms, of North Road, Great Yeldham, was jailed for 20 years while Bergin, of Hawkwood Road, Halstead, was handed a 14-year sentence.