Portsmouth robbers who pointed gun at 12-year-old boy's head jailed for 53 years

Drug dealer Richard Bailey, Abner Emedeme and Faz’Ain Hussain kicked down the front door of horrified Maria Dine’s home, in Sultan Road, Buckland, on April 13 last year.

They broke in with the aim of robbing Jay Page, Ms Dine’s partner who lived at the home but was not in, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

The terrified mum begged the masked intruders not to kill her 12-year-old son and four-year-old daughter as she stood between them and the gunman.

The court was told how Hussain – who was on bail for illegal possession of a sawn-off shotgun at the time of the raid – threatened the family with a pistol, while Emedeme, Bailey and a fourth man, who is still at large, ransacked the house.

Prosecutor Nick Tucker described how the thugs demanded Ms Dine and her friend Kerry Aldred tell them where cash or drugs were in the house.

Then, when Ms Dine’s frightened son fled downstairs he was grabbed by two robbers. with Hussain pointing the gun at boy’s head, Mr Tucker added.

After this, the gang fled to a waiting taxi, which contained fellow conspirators Draid Nurse and Ryan Orm.

Reading Ms Dine’s victim impact statement in court, Mr Tucker said: ‘Since the incident her children have nightmares. She thinks about the sound of her little girl’s voice at that time and her face having a gun pointed at it.

‘She says: “I constantly check my doors and windows are locked because I feel frightened.

‘Never before in my life have I felt this scared. I think about it all the time.

‘If I hear a noise I jump out of my skin, I pace all night and don’t got to sleep. My hair has been falling out and I’ve been wetting the bed.

‘My kids were taken away from me and I lost my home. Because of this I tried to take my own life.’

The court heard how the hapless gang fled empty-handed in the back of a six-seater Ford Galaxy taxi, being driven by innocent Naveed Anjum.

Mr Tucker said Mr Anjum, who drove for North End Taxis, picked up the six men in Railway View, Landport, after a taxi was booked at about 7.54pm.

He said he dropped four of the men – Bailey, Hussain and Emedeme and the other unknown male – in Princes Street before waiting for them in Sultan Road.

Once the men ran back into the car, the scared taxi driver was then ordered to drop them off at the Coach and Horses pub in Hilsea before he could call police.

At their sentencing hearing, Mr Tucker told how all the gang members had a string of convictions for crimes including theft, drug possession, drug dealing, firearm offences and assault.

Bailey was on licence after being jailed in April 2014 for 32 weeks for conspiracy to supply class A drugs, while Hussain was on bail for a firearm offence and was jailed for six years after the robbery.

Sentencing, Judge Sarah Munro QC said: ‘These innocent women will be scarred for life by what you did.

‘Both ladies have been prescribed medication and they remain terrified that they will be attacked again.

‘They will never get over this terrifying experience.’

Nurse, 21, of Cairo Terrace, Buckland, was jailed for 10 years after being found guilty of conspiracy to rob. Orme, 19, then of Copnor Road, Hilsea, was sentenced to seven years.

Hussain, 23, of HMP Onley, Emedeme, 22, of High Street, Colliers Wood, London, and Bailey, 27, from London, admitted conspiracy to rob.

Bailey was jailed for 13 years and six months, Emedeme received a term of 11 years eight months while Hussain was sentenced to 11 years, which will run concurrently with a current six-year prison sentence.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Mark Edis said: ‘This was a despicable, premeditated crime which was carried out with no regard to two young children being present.

‘This was a terrifying incident for all those involved and they have shown immense bravery throughout this investigation, helping us to ensure these dangerous men are no longer on our streets.’

I hope that these sentences imposed by the court will help to give them a sense of closure so that they can move on with their lives.

‘I also hope they will act as a deterrent to anyone who thinks this sort of crime will be tolerated in Hampshire.’