A Crayford father has told of his family’s terrifying ordeal at the hands of two burglars who ransacked their home.

Anwar Ali, 44, came home from work to find one of the thugs had his wife and two children cowering in the sitting room while his accomplice stole £10,000 worth of jewellery.

The father-of-two thought the burglar, who was wearing a high vis jacket, might have been a fitter come to work on the family kitchen in Old Road.

But his terrified wife Shamima, 39, told him in Bengali the man was a burglar and that there was another one elsewhere in the four-bedroom detached house.

Mr Ali told News Shopper: "I wasn’t scared, I was just calm.

"The best thing to do is to give them what they want.

"Let them take it because it is all insured - as long as they don’t harm my kids that’s fine."

The homeowner gave the man, whom he described as black and about 5ft 6in tall, around £200 from his wallet and the pair fled along Martens Avenue.

Around 10 minutes before at 7pm on March 4 the first burglar had burst through the front door when Mrs Ali had opened it to him.

The burglar's accomplice jumped out from behind a bush and followed him in before the couple’s petrified daughter Zakiyah, 10, was marched downstairs to join her mother and six-year-old sister Inaaya in the family’s front room.

Mr Ali said the burglars were "constantly fidgeting and they looked like they were on drugs".

He added: "I just can’t understand why they would do this kind of thing. It’s the fear it puts into you.

"I am scared to go out and if I do I am constantly watching everything."

The pair made off with a treasured 22-carat gold bangle given to Mrs Ali by her mother when she was 14 which is now worth £3,500.

The housewife’s wedding ring, worth up to £4,000, was also snatched along with a diamond ring her husband bought her last Christmas for £2,000.

But the criminals managed to miss £600 in cash in one of the jewellery boxes which was being kept as payment for the builders working on the kitchen.

A Bexley police spokesman said: "The first suspect is described as a dark-skinned black male, aged 18 to 20, of medium build, clean shaven and wearing a high visibility jacket.

"The second suspect is described as a white male, aged 18-20, of skinny build, clean shaven and wearing a black puffa-style jacket and black trousers."

Call Bexley Police CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

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