British motorcycling champion Sean Emmett saw his new bride “flip out” of their Dubai hotel window while looking for her lost wedding ring, his brother told an inquest into her death on Tuesday.
Jason Emmett, who was best man at the couple's wedding days before the incident in 2013, told the Surrey coroner's court that Sean rang his mobile hours after Abbie Elson, 27, fell to her death from their fourth floor honeymoon suite at Jumeirah Creekside Hotel in Dubai.
"Sean said Abbie had fallen out of a window," his brother said. "He said she had lost her ring and had gone down to look for it and got all emotional about it."
After she failed to find it, Sean went to look for the white gold ring but as he reached the door of their hotel room, he “saw her flip out”, his brother told the hearing.
Jason, a policeman for London’s Metropolitan force, said: “He sounded shaken up and said the whole thing was awful.
“He had got a lot of blood on him from giving her CPR.”
Abbie said she was living with an abusive partner and this triggered a few things
Joseph Semanda, a security guard at the hotel, said he saw a woman falling from a window and found her gasping for breath in the bushes below.
In a written statement, he said he saw Sean looking out of the window after she fell. He described Sean running to where she lay dying in a bid to resuscitate her.
Jason said he worried his brother would become suicidal while under investigation in Dubai on suspicion of her murder.
The 50-year-old former Grand Prix motorcyclist was held on bail for 10 months after her death in February 2013 and released without charge. On arrival to the UK in December 2013, he was arrested by Surrey police but was cleared after a three-year investigation.
The inquest aims to establish whether anyone else was involved in Abbie’s death.
Jason said Sean and Abbie lived a “very chaotic lifestyle” marked by excessive drinking.
“Sean led a sportsman’s lifestyle,” he said. “I would describe him as a good-time person. He liked to party.
“He was nonconformist and lived a disorganised lifestyle.”
Jason described his brother as a “heavy drinker” and said Sean and Abbie were “like two peas in a pod”.
Jason told the inquest he would avoid his brother when he had been drinking because of his “annoying” behaviour while under the influence of alcohol.
Despite living in the flat below the couple, he denied seeing any signs of Sean being violent towards Abbie, although he admitted police had to be called during one of their rows in November 2011.
“I was not really aware of problems in their relationship but I was aware of a bit of an issue about three times,” he told the hearing. “Normally, it involved drinking and one of them getting locked out.”
Jason said he became so concerned about their drinking that he told Abbie: “If you drink like that, you are not going to live until you’re 40.”
Paul Chitty, a friend of the motorcyclist who lived opposite Sean, said he could sometimes hear their screaming matches.
The inquest was told Abbie had suffered bouts of depression and self-harm and had a long history of mental health issues and battles with the eating disorder bulimia. She had attempted suicide twice before meeting Sean.
She had inflicted cuts on her arms and legs sporadically from the age of 10 and sought medical help in 2011, shortly after meeting Sean. The stress of dealing with an abusive partner was making her self-harm again and even caused her to step out in front of a moving car, doctors said.
Psychiatrist Raghad Hussain said in a written statement: “Abbie said she was living with an abusive partner and this triggered a few things. She said she was getting the urge to self-harm and described her relationship as 'lovely most of the time but occasionally her partner would become abusive'”.
Within three months of that report, Abbie was drinking 200 units a week, more than 14 times the amount recommended by UK health officials.
In the last few years of her life, Abbie was admitted to hospital on several occasions with bruises to her arms, neck and chest and was known to the domestic violence team in the area where she lived.
In 2011, she told doctors Sean assaulted her “at least once a month”.
When her ear was badly ripped in July 2011 and had to be stitched back on, she told doctors she intended to leave him and that he prevented her from seeing friends and family.
She even sought help from doctors the day before flying to Cape Town in South Africa to marry Sean.
On Monday, Abbie’s parents Christopher and Carolyn Elson and her close friends gave evidence of Sean subjecting her to a cycle of abuse. They said she sought their help on a number of occasions after he attacked her, but she kept returning to him.
The inquest heard the wedding party included Sean's racing circle as well as his brother but Abbie's friends and family were excluded and only found out they were married after she posted a message on Facebook in February 2013.
The couple flew to Dubai for a two-night stopover on their way back from South Africa but Abbie died on their first night in the UAE.
The inquest continues.
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
LIVING IN...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203S%20Money%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202018%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20London%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Zhiznevsky%2C%20Eugene%20Dugaev%20and%20Andrei%20Dikouchine%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%245.6%20million%20raised%20in%20total%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Living in...
This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.
Napoleon
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Ridley%20Scott%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20Joaquin%20Phoenix%2C%20Vanessa%20Kirby%2C%20Tahar%20Rahim%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%202%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%201.5-litre%204-cylinder%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ECVT%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E119bhp%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E145Nm%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDh%2C89%2C900%20(%2424%2C230)%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League, last 16, first leg
Tottenham Hotspur v Borussia Dortmund, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Calls
Directed by: Fede Alvarez
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Karen Gillian, Aaron Taylor-Johnson
4/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
PRO BASH
Thursday’s fixtures
6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors
10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters
Teams
Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.
Squad rules
All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.
Tournament rules
The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.
