Talk to the Press helps family caught up in media storm…
Last year, 10 year old Aran Aulux made national news after a violent gang broke into his family home and held an axe to his head. Traumatised Aran had to listen to his attacker telling his parents he would be killed unless they handed over cash and keys to their luxury cars.
In August 2014, the gang were sentenced to 28 years for a string of terrifying raids on wealthy families. Aran’s parents contacted us shortly after the court case to help with their media attention. We arranged a platform for them to speak on and placed their exclusive interview with The Sunday Mirror. This week, the family’s story appears in Woman’s Own and we’re in the process of securing them a second magazine deal.
Aran said: “It was so scary and I didn’t know what to do. I was looking at my dad and he was telling me to be brave. It felt like I was having a nightmare.
“Even now I still have nightmares about the bad men breaking in and hurting me. They promised they would come back to kill me and my brother.
“Sometimes I can’t sleep because I think I can hear them breaking in.”
Aran was just nine when three gang members burst into his family home grabbed him and held an axe to his head while threatening to ‘cut him’ if his father Rajinder, 42, didn’t give them the money. The gang, who were armed with an axe, sledgehammer and crowbar, tormented Aran before terrified Rajinder begged them to leave his son alone and handed over the car keys.
Sickeningly, before the armed men fled the scene in wealthy property developer Rajinder’s Nissan GTR and Mercedes CLK worth more than £200,000, they warned Aran they would return and kill him and his older brother Jay, 17. More than 18 months on Aran still suffers from terrifying flashbacks and is seeing a child therapist after he was diagnosed with PTSD.
Last month, Gavin Hunt, 37, and brothers Jamie, 32, and Christopher Dixon, 29 were jailed at Birmingham Crown Court for a string of raids on houses in the West Midlands area. Although Jamie Dixon wasn’t convicted of that particular attack against Aran, he was convicted of conspiracy to rob.
Worried mother Nikki added: “Aran has not been the same since. He used to be such a fun-loving, outgoing little boy. Now he’s quiet and scared of his own shadow.
“He had to take a lot of time of school and although it’s been over a year since the break in, he hasn’t slept alone. He refuses to be alone and has been so shaken up by the raiders I don’t know if he’ll ever get over it.”
The family installed top of the range security cameras and gates to guard their property, they’ve also bought Aran a dog for protection.
Judge Paul Farrer QC branded the trio ‘cowardly’ and ‘callous’ and said: “Sledgehammers, a crow bar and on one occasion an axe were carried in order to terrorize the people within. High value property was targeted and successfully stolen.”
Have you been at the centre of a national story and need help with media attention? If so, contact our team by using the story valuation form on the right hand side of this page. You can also reach us via email at: message@talktothepress.com or call us on 0207 549 5406.
If you would like to see more examples of our Media Protection work, see some of our recent stories here: https://www.talktothepress.co.uk/media-protection
