HOME ROBBERY ORDEAL
PENSIONERS THREATENED AT KNIFEPOINT AND BARRICADED IN ROOM UNDER STAIRS
MASKED robbers burst into a home and bundled a terrified couple into a cupboard at knifepoint. The gang fled with cash and jewellery following the shocking raid in Timperley. Police are now hunting the four armed men, who targeted the family home on Wednesday night.
A GRANDMA and grandad have spoken of their terrifying ordeal after they were threatened at knifepoint and barricaded into a cupboard by masked raiders.
The pensioners were relaxing at their home in Timperley when four men wearing balaclavas smashed their patio door and burst into their home at around 8pm.
One of the men brandished a nine-inch kitchen knife and held it to the 69-year-old homeowner’s face as he sat in the kitchen. They ordered him to tell them where their valuables were kept, before dragging him upstairs and forcing him to open a safe. The man’s wife, 68, was also threatened. After they collected cash and jewellery, the couple were bundled into a tiny cupboard under the stairs and blocked in.
The man told the M.E.N: “It was so scary, the worst experience of my life. I heard noises coming from the living room but before I knew it they were in front of me with this huge knife. They had come prepared. I think they wanted us to be in so we could tell them where our things were.
“I would have given them anything, I just didn’t want them to hurt us. It’s one thing being burgled and broken into when you’re not there, but to put us through that is just evil.
“And we didn’t know what they were capable of or how far they’d go.
“My wife was shaking and crying she was so scared. She can’t sleep now, neither of us can.”
The raiders piled furniture in front of the cupboard and stole the couple’s phones before fleeing.
The homeowner, who has two children and two grandchildren, eventually used an umbrella to prise the door open. He said: “They tried to tie me up with my wife’s scarf at first but then one of them said ‘no, put them in here’ and pushed us into the cupboard. Then it all went quiet. We had no idea how long we would be there. It was pitch black, we had no phone and no way of letting anyone know. It took at least ten minutes to free the door. I’m just glad neither of us was hurt.”
Police are appealing for anyone with information about Wednesday evening’s raid on Somerville Gardens, off Brookway, near the Moss Trooper pub, to come forward immediately. They are particularly keen to speak to anyone who saw a group of men on Henley Drive or Moss Lane before the incident.
Anyone with information can call police on 101, quoting incident number 2112 of 08/03/17, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.