Three men, wielding an axe, knife and hammer, forced their way into the reality star’s home in Hale, leaving her housekeeper Lesley Khan fearing for her life. The robbers threatened Mrs Khan, who has worked for Pickston for seven years, before stealing items including a rare designer watch worth £35,000 ($54,979 USD).
“It is an extremely sad reflection in a minority of today’s society. These people should be brought to justice, Ampika told Manchester Evening News. “People should never have to live in fear. They burst into an area where my housekeeper was sitting waiting for me to come home. They dragged her upstairs and threatened her with weapons.”
“She has been left emotionally broken by her ordeal. She added: “A substantial reward will be offered to whoever gives correct and precise information leading to a conviction.”
The robbers, who were white and in their late 20s and early 30s, dragged Mrs Khan, who was alone, upstairs by the back of the neck and threw her onto a bed, shouting and swearing and demanding to know where the safe was.
Mrs Khan suffered an asthma attack during her 15-minute ordeal, said she didn’t know they took Ampika’s £35,000 ($54,979 USD) Harry Winston watch (pictured above), Mrs Khan’s Tag Heuer watch worth £3,000 ($4,712 USD), costume jewelry, a £1,000 ($1,571 USD) bottle of Clive Christian perfume and two Chanel handbags (pictured below).
They also took the keys to Pickston’s silver Mercedes Benz and drove it away abandoning it nearby.
Mrs Khan, who was at home watching television when they burst into the house, said: “They said ‘if you don’t scream you will be alright’ but I couldn’t make a sound. I feared for my life. I thought ‘this is it, my number is up.’ It was traumatic. I’m thinking myself lucky that I didn’t get injured. We are both devastated by this ordeal.”
What would they think if it was their mother or grandmother that suffered something like this?"
Pickston was at a screening for the first episode of the second series of The Real Housewives of Cheshire – during the time when the burglary took place on Thursday just after 9pm.
Producers at the ITV studios at MediaCityUK, who were informed of the break-in, and broke the news to the reality star.
Police confirmed they are investigating the break-in. A spokesman said: “Between 9pm and 9.15pm on 20 August 2015, thieves armed with an axe, hammer and knife broke into a house and threatened a woman. The thieves then stole personal items and a silver Mercedes Benz parked on the driveway, which was later found abandoned nearby. Inquiries are ongoing.”
Source/Photo Credit: ITVBe, Manchester Evening News
