Police were called in the early hours of December 20th to a report that a man had been injured at a flat on Crasswell Street.
It was reported that a group of men had forced entry to the address wearing balaclavas and carrying serrated knives. Once inside they tied up the occupants, a man in his 50s, his two sons, now in their 20s, and a woman in her 20s with cable ties, packaging tape and electrical cables while threatening them with a hot iron and demanding money and jewellery.
One of the sons, a man in his 20s, suffered a slash wound to his face, causing a deep laceration which left a permanent scar.
Once the group had left the victims managed to untie themselves and call emergency services.
A variety of items including watches, mobile phones and trainers were taken, and only limited items were ever recovered.
Levar Greaves, 29, of Gibb Field Close in Essex; Adebowale Adeduro Mafo, 37, of Eastham Mannor Way in London; Aaron Murray, 26, of Sunlight Mews in Essex; and Malakye Tomlin, 25, of Fairway in Chelmsford, were all charged with aggravated burglary.
All four pleaded not guilty and a trial commenced at Portsmouth Crown Court in February of this year.
The court heard how a short time after the initial call came in, a van registered to Essex was spotted by officers coming out of an adjoining road.
The van was followed and stopped by police, who located the four suspects inside and arrested them.
A coat belonging to one of the victims and, crucially, a bank card were found inside the van, as well as balaclavas and masks which the suspects had been described as wearing by the victims.
During the investigation that followed, police matched the footwear worn by the suspects to evidence left at the scene and uncovered damning messages on one of the suspect’s phones, showing they had planned to target this particular address.
At the conclusion of the trial, which lasted 13 days, a jury found Greaves, Mafo and Murray guilty of aggravated burglary by a unanimous verdict. Tomlin was found guilty by a majority verdict of the lesser offence of burglary, believing he had played a lesser role.
All four appeared at the same court yesterday (Thursday 30 March), where Greaves, Murray and Mafo were all sentenced to 11 years in prison each. All must serve at least two thirds of their sentence before they are eligible for release.
Tomlin was given a Community Order and will be required to undergo rehabilitation, 100 hours of unpaid work and pay a victim surcharge.
Detective Constable Helen Carthew from Hampshire Constabulary’s Eastern Major Crime Unit said:
“This was understandably a terrifying ordeal for the residents of this flat. There was obviously a certain level of planning that had gone into this crime by the four involved, and I am thankful that the quick work of attending officers stopped them before they were able to get away.
“We do not underestimate the impact that violent, intrusive crimes of this nature have on their victims, and I sincerely hope that this sentence helps the occupants of the targeted address begin to move forward with their lives.
“I hope that this result sends a clear message that violent crime will never be tolerated by police and we will do everything we can to bring offenders to justice.”
In court, the personal statements from the victims were read out. Amongst the comments they made were:
“This is something I would normally hear on the radio or TV, I would never have thought this would happen to me. I hoped it was a dream, but it is not, it is reality.
“Any bang or noise sets me off thinking oh, is that someone coming in? I felt like it was a life-or-death situation. I was so vulnerable that night, tied up in my underwear. I thought I might die.
“I think it has left me mentally changed and in some ways that is worse than my scar”.