Robbers cut necklace off woman in bed

Knife held to husband’s throat before burglars flee with £2,000 in jewellery

POLICE are hunting masked men who broke into the home of a married couple as they slept and used pliers to cut a necklace from the woman’s neck.

Yogarany Jeevaratnam and her husband Murugesu, both 58, were asleep in the ground floor of their home in Ilford on Monday when they woke to find two men standing over them.

One man put his foot on Yogarany’s chest and the other stood over Murugesu and held a knife to his throat. The first man cut the necklace off with pliers and demanded Yogarany hand over her earrings and ring, which she did.

The couple’s daughter Shobana Kajnthiran, 39, said the men had used a screwdriver to break in and likened the robbery to a military operation. “They put a torch in my dad’s face with a knife to his neck,” she said. “They gestured to my mum that they would cut his throat unless she gave them the chain. She complied because he thought they were going to kill him. They were giving orders — my mother was petrified. She thought they were going to die.”

The men fled out the back of the house in South Park Drive, Ilford, and escaped. The couple’s granddaughter Kansiga Sharifullah, 20, a student who is 21 weeks pregnant, was woken by the commotion. She said: “We thought we were minutes away from dying. I thought my grandmother was dead, she was not moving.” More than £2,000 in jewellery was stolen. The family are convinced that the two raiders had been watching the house for weeks.

Ms Sharifullah called police to the house at 2.47am on Monday. Officers and a dog unit searched the area but there was no sign of the suspects.

Detective Constable Sophie Mostyn, from Redbridge CID, said: “This was a terrifying ordeal for the victims and it has left them extremely distressed. We are determined to catch those responsible and put them before the courts. We’d appeal for anyone with any information to contact us [on 0208 345 1609] as a matter of priority.”

The suspect who attacked Yogarany is described as white and aged between 25 and 30. The second man is black and a similar age. Both were wearing dark clothing and had most of their faces covered. There have been no arrests.

Today, a shopowner said he had disturbed burglars at his home on the same road. Jaffri Qamber, 54, had just moved in when he heard burglars in his property last month. He said: “I heard a noise and confronted them, they were in the house. They ran for it and I called the police. It could have been worse and I think it could be the same people.

“It was not a nice introduction to the neighbourhood.”

Burglars broke into another house on the corner of the road last month. The owner said: “We did not lose jewellery but it was very traumatic. Now we have extra security and don’t keep valuables in the house.”