A BURNLEY businessman who emigrated to South Africa was shot dead in front of his wife and children after robbers broke into their house.

Fred Picton-Turbervill, 46, who ran a furniture company in Burnley, was shot in the eye after he was overpowered by two armed robbers at his home in Pretoria.

Police are hunting the robbers, who escaped with a laptop, mobile phones and the equivalent of just £74 in cash.

Mr Picton-Turbervill lived in Burnley for eight years but emigrated three years ago with his wife Ursula, 41, and their children Samantha, 10, Bryony, nine, Natasha, six, and Gregory, three.

His son Jamie, 21, who still lives in England where he is studying at university, was due to celebrate his 21st birthday on the day his dad was shot.

Mr Picton-Tubervill, a director of a furniture manufacturing company, lived in a heavily armoured house in the wealthy Waterklooft Ridge suburb of Pretoria, which is also home to South Africa's chief of police, Jackie Selebi.

The robbers struck at 9.30pm on Saturday night as all the family were enjoying time together.

Speaking from the home of her friend, Mrs Picton-Turbervill said that "the robbers have ruined my children's lives, all for flipping cellphones".

She said she and her husband were watching television and the children were playing, when the men entered and ordered them to lie down on the floor.

Mrs Picton-Tubervill said: "They shouted: 'Sleep! Sleep!' and 'Money! Money!' We all went through to the dining room and lay on the floor.

"My husband asked them not to hurt the children. He also asked if the children could go through to another room, but the robbers didn't want that.

"One robber suddenly shot my husband who was lying half curled up behind me, through the eye.

"He collapsed against me. Samantha closed little Gregory's eyes as he lay crying, because she didn't want him to see how their father bled to death, and Bryony and Natasha just lay dead still.

"They took me through the house into our room, where I gave them my jewellery box and my husband's wallet."

The robbers took her back to the children before fleeing.

"After they'd left, I put the children into the car and rushed off to Kim's house for help.

"I left the children there and hurried back home to be with my husband while we waited for the police," she wept.

The robbers made off with a laptop, four cellphones and about R1000 in cash.

Hugo Minnaar, a rescue worker at LifeMed, said that when they arrived at the scene, Mr Picton-Turbervill was lying on the lounge floor in a critical condition.

A doctor, thought to be a family friend, was desperately trying to save Mr Picton-Turbervill, who had stopped breathing.

Mr Minnaar said: "We put him on life support and took him through to the Little Company of Mary Hospital where he died later."

His brother, Simon Picton-Turbervill, who also lives in Pretoria, said: "Our family have been totally devastated by his death.

"His wife and children have moved out of the home for the time being and are staying with a friend. He was a lovely kind man and we are all in total shock. "

He said that all of Mr Picton-Turbervill's family now lived either in South Africa or Wales and Jamie was flying out on Sunday to be with his siblings.

Mr Picton-Tubervill said that his brother had run a furniture business called D'urbervill Design, which was based in Burnley.

Neighbours on both sides of the Pretoria house said they had not heard anything at the time and only learned about the tragedy when contacted by the media.

They had no idea how the robbers had managed to invade what seemed to be an impregnable fortress.

The walls around the house are more than two metres high. Both these walls and the motorised palisade gate have electric fencing.

From the street only the garage is visible and it seems impossible to enter the premises from a neighbouring property.

Police in South Africa said no arrests had been made yet, but they were investigating charges of murder and robbery with aggravating circumstances.