Emile Heskey's fiancee threatened by armed burglars

Jul 23 2008

Emile Heskey said today his fiancee was "very, very distressed" after being threatened at knifepoint in a burglary at their home.

His partner Chantelle Tagoe was confronted in daylight by two men who kicked down the front door of the Wigan and England striker’s mansion in Hale, Greater Manchester.

The raiders, who spoke with Mancunian accents, stole jewellery before they took the keys to the footballer’s BMW X5 and made their escape.

They struck while Heskey, 30, was at a training session at around 10.45am on Wednesday July 16.

The former Leicester and Liverpool forward said he and his girlfriend wanted to put the "ordeal" behind them.

In a statement, he said: "I am very glad and relieved to report that my partner, Chantelle, was not hurt and my children were away from the house at the time of the incident.

"Chantelle was obviously very upset and shaken by what happened and is still very, very distressed but we both just want to put the ordeal behind us and get back to normality.

"The incident is being investigated by the Greater Manchester Police and we are confident they will capture the culprits to stop them doing this again to any other families. If anybody does have any information or think they can help in any way please contact the police immediately.

"We are both very conscious that many people are victims of these kinds of crimes everyday and my thoughts are with anybody who has gone through what my family is going through at the moment.

"But as I say, the event is in the past, I would like this statement to be the end of the matter and draw a line under it and get on with our lives."

Greater Manchester Police said inquiries into the incident are continuing.

The registration of the stolen vehicle is PJ07 OPW.

Anyone with any information on the burglary should call the Volume Crime Unit on 0161 856 7553 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.