Rolex gang shoots couple and mother at mansion

Two men robbed a husband and wife of their Rolex watches and shot the woman, her son and his girlfriend in a raid whose ferocity shocked police.

Two men robbed a husband and wife of their Rolex watches and shot the woman, her son and his girlfriend in a raid whose ferocity shocked police.

Joseph Martorana, 47, and his wife, Josephina, 46, had just returned from a bank holiday shopping trip when they were confronted at their mansion in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

Mr Martorana was robbed of his £13,000 gold Rolex watch in a struggle and his wife was shot in the back with a handgun at close range.

She fell to the ground and the robbers took another Rolex, also valued at £13,000, from her as she lay on the floor.

The couple's son Stephen, 18, ran out of the £350,000 home, only to be shot in the chest. His girlfriend, Isabella Agnes, 19, who followed him on to the driveway, was shot in the abdomen.

The two men drove off in a silver Vauxhall Vectra, initially heading the wrong way down a cul-de-sac. Mr Martorana jumped into his BMW and chased the gang into the town centre where he rammed their vehicle at a roundabout. He failed to stop their car and they drove towards the A10.

Mr Martorana is a businessman who used to run a successful tyre and exhaust garage. He is understood to have sold a second company, the Extreme Wheel and Tyre Centre, last month.

Det Ch Insp Woods said inquiries into Mr Martorana's business dealings would be made as a matter of course.

Neighbours described the family, who moved to the town about 20 years ago after emigrating from Sicily, as "very close knit".

The three victims were described as critical but stable in hospital last night.

* A gunman murdered a man on his doorstep before fleeing on a motor scooter bearing an L-plate yesterday in an apparent contract killing.

Ronald Gary Fuller, 30, a decorator, was found by his girlfriend with gunshot wounds outside his bungalow in Grays, Essex, at 7.45am.