Pensioner attacked with machete over safe containing £130,000

A pensioner was the victim of a brutal murder attempt amid a bitter family dispute over his father’s safe.

Derek Robertson was attacked in his own home in Maybole, Ayrshire, by a machete-wielding robber and his female accomplice who demanded the cash box.

The now 69-year-old was hit several times with the weapon in his desperate attempts to defend himself.

The attack on December 11, 2019, occurred on the same day that his sister Greta Robertson, 64, reported him to police for keeping the safe – containing nearly £130,000 – in his home.

This despite the fact that the couple and two other siblings had originally agreed that Derek would keep the car while Hamilton was in hospital.

But Greta – one of the representatives for her father’s personal affairs – had demanded the return of the document.

The jury heard that the two were a “close-knit family,” but that this argument had destroyed their relationship.

While investigating the attack, detectives eventually arrested truck driver Barry Marshall, the partner of Greta’s daughter.

Marshall’s girlfriend Marion Hawkins was also detained.

The two 41-year-olds denied guilt during a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Marshall’s statements to police included that he was in the area of ​​Derek’s home because he was having an affair with another woman.

Hawkins said she was sitting in Marshall’s BMW X5 that day after he suggested they take a “drive” to Ayrshire in the middle of winter.

Both incriminated a man who was allegedly a local criminal.

Greta – who was not on trial – denied “encouraging” anyone to attack her brother and insisted she was “horrified” when she learned Derek had been stabbed.

Marshall and Hawkins are now behind bars after being convicted of attempted murder and stealing Derek’s cellphone, respectively.

The verdict will be announced next month.

Jurors were told how Hamilton – known as Milton – ended up in hospital in 2019.

At that time, the Roberston siblings allegedly made a pact that Derek would leave the locked safe at his home rather than storing it in an empty house.

Great told the court: “My brother was of the opinion that the safe had to be removed. I did not know that the safe was gone.”

“I didn’t figure it out at the time, but it made sense.”

However, the proceedings stated that a “difference of opinion” arose when the father was discharged from the hospital.

Greta said she had asked for the cash box to be returned “several times”.

Derek stated in court that his sister “called him constantly.”

Greta said her father eventually “asked her to go to the police.”

Greta and her daughter Jade believed that Hamilton’s safe was “rightfully his”.

On the day of the attack, Derek was sick at home and he now suspects it was Covid.

He was on the phone with his other sister Lorna when his doorbell rang repeatedly.

She had urged Derek not to answer, but he finally did.

When he opened the door, he was “pushed back” by a gloved woman before “a guy with a big machete jumped in.”

The court heard that the armed thug began striking Derek’s body with the deadly weapon.

Derek recalled, “If I hadn’t raised my arm, I probably wouldn’t be here anymore.”

He told prosecutor John Macpherson there were shouts of “Where’s the safe, where’s the money?”

Derek – dressed only in a dressing gown and boxer shorts – tried unsuccessfully to escape into the kitchen and close the door.

The witness: “He was still trying to reach me. Every time he got closer, he shot again.”

“At some point he actually climbed over the table to get to me.”

Then the woman realized that she was still connected to Lorna and her cell phone had been stolen.

As the machete-wielding man continued to pursue Derek, his accomplice was heard shouting to him: “Enough, Barry, enough, Barry.”

Derek told the jury: “For some reason they decided to go and say, ‘We’ll be back. It’s not over yet.'”

Derek tried to call his sister back on the landline, but his injuries were so severe that he could not hold the phone. Eventually he went to his neighbor to raise the alarm.

The ordeal left scars on him for life.

Greta said she found out that night what happened to Derek.

She told the court: “I was horrified. I couldn’t understand it.”

When asked if she had been involved or instigated anyone to do it, Greta replied: “No, never. I just wanted my father to get his money back. We were a close family.”

She added that the relationship with the others had “completely dissolved”.

In his statement, Marshall, from Pollok, Glasgow, admitted to telling police “a pack of lies”, including the story of the fabricated affair.

He insisted that the truth was that Hawkins – whom he had known on and off since their teenage years – had offered to act as a mediator between the Robertsons and the two to resolve the safe dispute.

Hawkins, from East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, was a stranger to the family.

But Marshall said, “I didn’t think it was a bad idea.”

He said they went to Derek’s house on the day of the crime, but he stayed in his private SUV while Hawkins went inside. Marshall denied being involved in any attack.

Hawkins, who is now in a wheelchair for health reasons, also denied the allegations, saying she had “no reason” to be in Derek’s house.

Lady Poole has postponed sentencing due to reports.

The judge told the couple: “This attack was carried out on a man in his sixties in his own home.”

“This was a heinous act. The victim’s statement that I read speaks of the physical and emotional impact on him.”