Latest news with #SamHutchinson
The Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Sun
‘I can't believe they showed that again' – ITV commentator stunned by Cristiano Ronaldo banner at Nations League final
ITV commentators were left stunned after seeing a banner directed at Cristiano Ronaldo at the Nations League final. Portugal claimed their second Nations League crown after beating Spain on penalties on Sunday evening. 3 3 3 But it was a supporter's banner in the stands that caught the attention of ITV commentators Sam Hutchinson and Andros Townsend. In the 87th minute, when Ronaldo went down injured, the cameras panned to the crowd and caught the sign. A Portugal fan could be seen holding up a banner that read "Cristiano, please let me touch you." The suggestive sign was spotted by the commentators, leaving them stunned. Hutchinson said: "Oh my gosh." Which prompted the former Premier League star to say: "I can't believe they showed that again." Hutchinson replied: "I think we know why." Townsend then joked: "The director has a very innocent mind". The sign clearly left an impression on Hutchinson as a couple of minutes later, it was still on his mind. He added: "I am still laughing at that sign." Despite being subbed off injured, Ronaldo still played his part in the final as he netted the crucial equaliser in the second half. Portugal had already come from behind once in the game as Nuno Mendes cancelled out Martin Zubimendi's opener. After the match, Ronaldo also revealed that he would be staying at Saudi club Al-Nassr amid links of an exit. Ronaldo joined the Saudi side in 2023 and has been the Pro League's top scorer for the past two seasons. Meanwhile, the final was overshadowed by the tragic death of a fan in the stands.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE We're the spy mums - we hunt down cheaters and solve mysteries the cops won't touch as private investigators, but we're still home in time for the school run
Forget James Bond, Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, these glamorous mums from Essex can give any famous detective a run for their money. Former police officers Sam Hutchinson, 56, and Emma Coles, 40, set up their private investigations industry Verity Henton in April 2020 and, they tell MailOnline, they've 'never looked back'. Alongside juggling the school run (Sam has nine-year-old twins, while Emma has two daughters aged nine and 12), their days can be filled with anything from hunting down cheaters and exposing catfishing scams to solving stalker cases for some of the world's wealthiest people. One moment Sam and Emma will be dropping their kids off at school - and the next they'll be hurriedly adopting a disguise to chase down a suspect, or furiously trying to solve a case while getting their nails done at the salon. No one would ever suspect the smiley and gorgeous best friends of secretly operating a growing network of covert operations. This, the spy mums explain, is their secret weapon. Speaking to MailOnline, Emma said: 'You're just not suspected of anything. If myself or Sam were hanging around at a tube station and pretending that we're on the phone, nobody would think anything. 'But if there was a guy standing there for a couple of hours, it would be different. I think people feel a lot safer about women.' 'We can just get away with blending into those environments,' Sam adds. 'Nobody's threatened by us!' In actual fact, Sam and Emma will be hard at work in the midst of a covert operation - which can consist of anything from surveillance, desktop work, open source intelligence, tracking digital footprints, and organising their trained team of operatives. The pair are unafraid of playing the damsel in distress or acting 'dumb or ditsy' if they think it will give them the information they need to help their clients. The mystery-solvers first met in the Essex police force, working in anti-corruption, which Sam said 'is like the secret part of Line Of Duty'. After having children and subsequently leaving the police force, they 'met up in Tescos a couple of times' before realising they wanted to use their skills and expertise for the greater good. Thus, Verity Henton was born and, as Emma explained, they were 'busy from day one'. At first, they disliked the name 'spy mums' and thought it made them seem like a 'joke' - but now, they realise it's an apt summary of what they do and aim to achieve. On balancing their rather unusual day job with looking after the kids, Emma said in many ways it feels like they're living 'double lives'. Sam says: 'We're busy mums, we've got both got children at school. We need to be there for the school pick up if we can. We're zooming around everywhere. 'When the children go to bed, that's when we're up all night working. It's challenging, but no more challenging than any working mum.' Emma added: 'We still do things we want to do, like going to the gym and nail appointments and things like that, so it's quite flexible, but we are busy as well. 'So in a nail appointment or hair appointment, for instance, we will still be working. We'll still be on the phone to clients and working on the job. 'I was running a job yesterday and getting my nails done at the same time. So, just every now and then I'd say, look, I just need to send a message.' 'You're having to put on a few different hats.' The children themselves, know 'everything' and also want to be spies when they grow up. But when they tell the other children and teachers at school that 'my mum's a spy', no one believes them and they've been told 'not to tell fibs'. The spy mums' clients can be anyone from an 'everyday person' seeking proof of a cheating partner to 'Arab princes' and foreign royals in need of a special covert service. At the moment, they're especially popular with clients of a high net worth - and are repeatedly being sort out by celebrities, for contracts in the entertainment world, and have been hired as the main private investigators for several big corporations. One recent example, Sam says, is when they were hired by a 'very very popular' celebrity when they visited London, who wanted to make sure their stalker came nowhere near them. Sam and Emma were able to make sure that they kept tabs on the stalker and ensure they didn't cross a boundary. They still equally work with 'normal everyday people', adding that they treat their clients the same, no matter who they are. Among their craziest cases are the catfishing scams, of which they've seen a rapid increase in recent years. Emma said: 'We've had a lot of clients who've paid hundreds of thousands of pounds because they think they're in a relationship with a celebrity.' One woman came to them believing she was in a relationship with Marti Pellow, the lead singer of Wet Wet Wet. Convinced she was in a loving and committed relationship with the frontman, she had 'bought a house' in Windsor, believing she would live there with Marti. In fact, she'd paid around £69,000 into a Bitcoin account as 'Marti' said his funds were tied up - but that he'd pay her back so they could start their new life together. Another believed she was in a relationship with Hollywood actor Luke Evans, also paying vast sums each month into a Bitcoin account while working two jobs and racking up debt. 'This went on for years and years and years and she honestly believed that he was in love with her and that it was a real person,' Emma said. When Sam and Emma exposed the truth, the woman was 'devastated'. The spy mums recalled: 'She still desperately wanted to believe it and I think because she'd been hooked in for so many years, she'd been through quite a traumatic relationship prior to that, she was just clinging on to a little bit of hope that somebody loved her. 'We still support her now and we still hear from her.' Their favourite cases are the infidelity ones, where they catch cheaters. Sometimes, they'll be employed by a paranoid partner - and can prove no infidelity is taking place. The detective services can cost anywhere between £500 for static surveillance to £10,000 if it takes 'weeks and weeks', but there's no one size fits all. Much of their work now comes to them through cases that the police 'do nothing about'. Emma said: 'The police don't have the resources they used to have. We are finding more and more now that people are coming to us because they've reported a burglary or theft or something to the police and the police have done nothing about it. 'They don't even send an officer out to take a statement or anything like that. 'So we will then do the job of the police. Obviously, the client has to pay us for it, but they're then getting the results.' It will then be up to Sam and Emma to help their client gather the evidence, which they can then pass over to the police. The PI industry in the UK is unlicensed and unregulated and, in fact, anyone can set themselves up as a private investigator. Through Verity Henton, Sam and Emma are registered with The Association Of British Investigators, which they compare to the 'Kennel Club for dog buying'. In many ways, the two would appear an unlikely solution to the country's crimes - and the two admit of their own volition that they're 'very, very different to any other private investigation company'. 'Most are stereotypical and most are ex-military guys who don't really know how to talk to the clients,' the duo tell MailOnline. 'They don't offer that kind of level of emotional support either.' Sam said: 'Also, being detectives, having spent our lives looking for answers and searching for the truth, all our lives looking for evidence, we have that built in ability to look outside the box and to explore every avenue. 'We won't just sit outside the house watching for 10 hours to go, no, no one's in. 'We'll be round the back, we'll be over the top, we're making phone calls, we'll be doing everything because we need to know the answers and that's what we get for our clients.' Sam recalled she managed to go through about 'seven different disguises' in one day during a surveillance job - jumping on the tube in her running stuff, before purchasing a last-minute outfit from a shop before going into a café, and changing once more before entering a 'posh golf club'. Far from being exhausting, the pair insist they have 'so much fun' and insist it's thoroughly rewarding. Sam says people have told them that their work 'saves lives' and they've saved others 'millions' - for example after looking into a 'sugar daddy' who found out one of his 'babies' was being disloyal. 'Although we are having fun, and this is literally the best job in the world, it's all about the clients and getting the absolute best results for them,' they say. Five years in, and Verity Henton has seen many changes since it first launched. These days, Sam and Emma tend to do less of the actual surveillance work themselves and focus more on being the face of the business - with a team of around 100 operatives they can rely on. For Verity Henton, the future seems bright: Emma and Sam are hoping to expand to New York in the near future ('the Americans will love us!') and they're even set to be the subject of a thrilling new TV drama with a 'big production company'. It's clearly been much more profitable than a life in the police force. 'We work really hard and it does pay off,' says Emma.
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Hutchinson in talks over new Dons deal
AFC Wimbledon are in talks about a contract extension for Sam Hutchinson, who suffered a heart attack during a League Two match earlier this former Chelsea and Sheffield Wednesday defender, 35, underwent surgery following the health scare, which happened in the sixth minute of the final match of the regular season, against Grimsby. Incredibly, Hutchinson completed the entire match - and scored the winning Dons went on to beat Notts County home and away in the play-off semi-finals before defeating Walsall 1-0 at Wembley to earn promotion to League joined Wimbledon from Reading in December and has made 18 appearances for the James Tilley and Josh Neufville and defender Ryan Johnson have all been offered new deals, external at Plough Lane, while the club have triggered an option to extend Isaac Ogundere's contract. Marcus Browne is also in talks over a new deal. The forward has scored four goals in 21 appearances since moving to the club from Oxford United in January. Goodman returns to Palace after stellar season Goalkeeper Owen Goodman has returned to Crystal Palace on completion of his season-long loan with the 21-year-old kept 24 clean sheets in 54 appearances in all competitions for the kept a clean sheet in each of his final four appearances - all 1-0 victories - culminating in the play-off final victory at Furlong, Joe Piggot and Alistair Smith have also returned to their parent clubs."I'd like to say a massive thank you to our loan players, the impact they've made has been incredible," director of football Craig Cope told the Dons' website. "James Furlong with an instant impact at the start of the season accumulating points early doors then coming in with some good performances later on as well."Club legend Joe Pigott returning with some crucial goals away at Cheltenham and Barrow. "Finally landing long-term target Alistair who ended up being so reliable, missing one game all season and scoring some crucial goals."Owen coming across south London to become the best goalkeeper in the league, concede 35 goals in 49 games which has culminated in an England Under-21 call up."Will Nightingale will end his 11-year association with the club as he departs this will have a testimonial at the Cherry Red Records Stadium on Amissah, James Ball, Huseyin Biler, Paris Lock, Ryan McLean, John-Joe O'Toole, Lewis Ward and Morgan Williams have also departed the club.
Times
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Times
I felt awful, played on, scored the winner, but I'd had a heart attack
It's 3pm on Saturday, May 3, and AFC Wimbledon are lining up for a crunch, end-of-season tie at Grimsby Town; after a few setbacks in the latter weeks of the season, Wimbledon need a point to guarantee their play-off place in League Two. Their opponents know a win would send them into the play-offs instead. Wimbledon midfielder Sam Hutchinson, 35, tells us about an afternoon he'll never forget. I don't usually get to bed early before games — I watch TV, chill out, play cards, but the night before this one I'd got my best night's sleep in ages. I'd had a little injury but was now back and feeling 100 per cent. We're a confident bunch, so we knew if we played well we'd
The Sun
21-05-2025
- Sport
- The Sun
Ex-Chelsea star Sam Hutchinson reveals he had HEART ATTACK in game he scored winner that sent Wimbledon to playoffs
AFC WIMBLEDON defender Sam Hutchinson has revealed that he suffered a heart attack just six minutes into a crucial League Two match - and then went on to score. The 35-year-old endured the frightening ordeal against Grimbsy Town earlier this month. 3 Just moments into the match, unbeknownst to him, Hutchinson suffered a heart attack while on the pitch. As he wasn't aware of what was happening, the defender played on and completed the full match. He even scored the decisive goal in the 52nd minute as Wimbledon clinched a 1-0 win to secure a place in the League Two play-offs. But it wasn't until after full-time that he realised something was seriously wrong. Recalling the ordeal while speaking to Wimbledon club media this week, he explained: "It's crazy really. Obviously I was experiencing a lot of pain then. "I look back as well and my mrs said: 'Oh you didn't look right when you had the interview,' and then I got back on the coach, started getting more chest pains, the adrenaline wore off and we ended up making a pit stop in Nottingham." He continued: "Bob [Bacic, head physio] took me in and basically they said I had a heart attack. "Then they said it could be an infection, so I was in there for five days. "I was like a pin cushion by the end of it, I was getting loads of tests done. "And then it turned out, yeah, I did actually have a heart attack. Incredible before and after video shows AFC Wimbledon's progress fixing huge sinkhole after Carabao Cup clash postponed "A branch of an artery was blocked, 75 per cent, so I had an angiogram and they put a stent in. I had that in London and saw a top specialist who was unbelievable. "And I'm on the road to recovery now." Hutchinson went on to admit that he "broke down" after being told he'd suffered a heart attack because he didn't want his football career to end. But the specialist he saw insisted there is "no problem" with him continuing to play. AFC Wimbledon face Walsall in the League Two play-off final on Monday. And while he is "devastated" that he will miss the occasion, Hutchinson is looking forward to watching. He added: "I'm there to support the boys and fingers crossed we can get it over the line and do what everyone wants us to do. "I genuinely think I could play, obviously it would be dangerous but that's just my opinion. I'm never going to but I'd love to." Hutchinson joined Chelsea at the age of nine and graduated from the club's academy to make the first team. However, he was limited to just six senior appearances in total. The defender was loaned out to Nottingham Forest, Vitesse and Sheffield Wednesday before completing a permanent move to the Hillsborough Stadium. He then went on to play for Pafos and Reading before joining AFC Wimbledon in December. 3
