Two armed robbers who shot a Bermudian-based businessman in his English home have been jailed.

Charlie Simms was jailed for 20 years at Chelmsford Crown Court this week, and Christopher Bergin for 14 years, for the raid on Timothy Mardon’s Essex mansion last February. Mr Mardon, 51, a millionaire who works in insurance and lives most of the year in Bermuda, was shot through a bedroom door during the burglary and left for dead by the pair. The father-of-two lost up to a fifth of his blood from the gunshot wound in his thigh and underwent a series of operations to save his leg.

Sentencing the pair on Monday, Judge David Turner QC described the break-in as “every householder’s utter nightmare”.

Mr Justice Turner said if a police officer had not applied a tourniquet to Mr Mardon’s leg he “would have bled to death”.

The judge told the men the recording of Mr Mardon’s 34-minute 999 call conveyed the “sheer horror” of “every householder’s utter nightmare”.

“The terror in his voice is palpable,” he said.

The judge said that Simms was the masked gunman but added: “You were both no doubt at the bedroom door.”

Simms, 23, of Great Yeldham, was convicted of attempted murder, aggravated burglary and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life following a trial in December. Bergin, 28, of Sible Hedingham, was found guilty of wounding with intent, aggravated burglary and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The men will both be on extended licence, for four years and two years respectively, following their release from prison.

During the trial, jurors heard that Mr Mardon had locked himself in his bedroom but was shot in the leg with a sawn-off shotgun. He was left bleeding on the ground while the pair escaped with a watch worth $3,000 and a few hundred pounds in foreign currency. A recording of a 999 call he made was played in court in which a voice can be heard saying: “Where’s the weed at or I will blow your face off.”

In a victim impact statement Mr Mardon said a masked man held a gun to his head as he lay bleeding, threatened him and began counting down.

Mr Mardon, who was back in the UK for only one night, was alone in the Grade II-listed property when he was attacked.

In a statement after the sentencing Mr Mardon said: “They will have time to reflect on what they have done and the harm they have caused to my family.”

Detective Chief Inspector Leighton Hammett added that the Mardon family was “satisfied” with the sentences.

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