Home raid duo stole terrified woman’s car

Victim tried to hide keys

Two thugs have been caged after they burst into a woman’s flat then raced off in her car.

Allan Burns, 37, and Anthony Fitzpatrick, 29, will spend a total of nearly three years behind bars for targeting Joanne Smith, 22, during the terrifying home invasion.

They were part of a trio that burst in and threatened to club the woman with a Buckfast bottle.

The men were sent down after being convicted at a trial in Paisley Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Tom McCartney warned there was no alternative to a stretch behind bars.

He said: “A significant factor which makes this crime more serious is that it took place in the home of the victim.

“There is no suitable alternative other than a prison sentence.”

Ms Smith was home alone after her boyfriend popped out.

The pair appeared at her door with another man in Renfrew’s Renfield Street.

The victim recognised Fitzpatrick because they used to work together in security at music festivals.

She tried to turn them away, but they pushed their way inside.

Burns and Fitzpatrick shoved and grabbed at her and threatened her while brandishing the bottle.

They stole the keys to her Vauxhall Corsa and her iPhone before leaving in the car.

Ms Smith gave evidence against the thugs during the trial.

She said: “I went to shut the door. “That’s when the one up the stairs came up and made his way by me into the house.

“He shoved me, pushed me, he pushed me into the living room.

“The other two came in behind him.

“I went on to the couch. They started raking through the place, like going about the house and going through the cupboards.

“My car keys were sitting on the window ledge.

“I knew what was going to happen — they were going to take the car. “I was terrified.

“One of them had a bottle of Buckfast.

“He was going to hit me with it if I didn’t give him my keys.

“He said, ‘gie me the f****** keys. Don’t make me knock you out, ya dozy cow’.”

Ms Smith stuffed her keys down her pyjama bottoms in a bid to stop them stealing her car.

But they forced her to hand them over before racing off on April 25 last year.

The jury was shown a video of the gang speeding off, captured from a neighbour’s home.

The victim could be heard screaming in the background.

The jury found the pair guilty of assaulting Ms Smith by threatening her with violence and robbing her of her car keys.

Fitzpatrick was told he would be locked up for 12 months due to the “gravity of the offence”.

Sheriff McCartney blasted Burns for his part in the ordeal and sent him down for 23 months and 14 days.

He added: “You have a significant record, including convictions for assault and robbery, and this offence was committed whilst you were on bail.”

Fitzpatrick’s mother, who had gone to court to support her son, sobbed as he was taken away in handcuffs to begin his prison sentence.