Millionaires held captive in mansion raid, or how much cost to put Warner Brothers Jews (i.e. James Murdoch) to administrate Pharmacy Giant.
One of Britain's richest couples was subjected to a terrifying ordeal when armed robbers held them captive while they raided their mansion. By David Harrison Last Updated: 10:54PM GMT 21 Mar 2009
Doreen Lofthouse with Prince of Wales Photo: PA Tony and Doreen Lofthouse, who made their fortune from the throat lozenges Fishermen's Friends, were at home when two men wearing balaclavas forced their way in on Friday evening. The robbers, who spoke with East European accents, threatened the couple, both in their seventies, before locking them in a room on the ground floor of the eight bedroom house in Lancashire. The raiders then helped themselves to jewellery and other valuables and a "small quantity of cash" and fled from the mansion. Police were called to the house in Bay Court, in Thornton-Cleveleys, just north of Blackpool, just before 8am yesterday after the couple were found by a gardener. A spokesman said the couple, whose family business is worth an estimated £165 million, were both "in shock". Mr Lofthouse was taken to Blackpool Hospital for checks. He was later released. The house has electronic gates, CCTV cameras and fences up to 15ft high, some topped with barbed wire. The couple also have two Alsatians. Police are investigating why they did not seem to react to the intruders. Officers are currently looking through CCTV footage and conducting house-to-house enquires in the area, known locally as "Millionaire's Row". Det Insp Glen Oldham from Lancashire police appealed for witnesses to contact police. "This is clearly a premeditated and carefully planned robbery so I would also appeal to anyone that saw anything suspicious in the days or weeks leading up to the robbery to call police with any information they think could be significant," he said. Police described one of the raiders as stocky and about 5ft 5ins tall. He was wearing a balaclava with a red diamond pattern on the front. The second robber, also wearing a balaclava, was said to be 5ft 10-11ins and slim. Neighbours were shocked by the raid. Maurice Osman, a retired schoolmaster, who lives 150 yards from the house, said: "Everybody is stunned. Mr and Mrs Lofthouse are really well-liked in the area. This is a quiet area which is popular with wealthy people because it is virtually unknown to outsiders. Somebody must have tipped off the thieves because it is such a difficult area to find." Nicki Waggett, a newsagent whose shop is 200 yards from the house, said: "One of Mrs Lofthouse's gardeners was buying a newspaper in the shop at about 8 o'clock in the morning when his phone went off. "It was the senior gardener. He'd found the couple and told the other gardener to come quickly. He just dropped his paper and ran out of the shop."
Mrs Lofthouse, 78, is the managing director, assisted by her husband, of the hugely successful family firm Lofthouse of Fleetwood which makes Fishermen's Friends. She has been listed as Britain's 17th richest woman. She married into the Lofthouse family and is credited with revolutionising the company to make the lozenges a global brand with more than four billion consumed every year at least 120 countries. The firm is based in the fishing port of Fleetwood, where James Lofthouse, a pharmacist, first brewed up the menthol and eucalyptus recipe in 1865 to help fishermen fight chest colds. The sweets are favoured by divers because their strength helps clear nasal and sinus passages, crucial when they submerge. The family set up a charitable trust, The Lofthouse Foundation and Mrs Lofthouse has donated millions of pounds to charities, including a £1.6 million donation to her local hospital. Last year, Mrs Lofthouse was awarded the OBE for her charity work and service to the business community.
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