Machete burglar threatened to 'chop up' victim

3:33pm Thursday 28th August 2008

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A BURGLAR threatened to chop off the toes and hand of his terrified victim, a court heard.

Martin Mitchell, of London Road, Bromley, had denied a charge of aggravated burglary but was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey.

It related to an incident which saw three intruders burst into the Beckenham home of the Todd family at 9.30pm on March 22.

Mitchell held a machete to the throat of 26-year-old Marvin Todd and demanded cash and the keys to the family's BMW.

Another man waved a kitchen knife towards Mr Todd's mother Denise.

Mitchell then warned: "If you don't tell us where it is I'm going to chop his hand off, I'm going to chop his toes off."

Denise Todd said in court: "He was pushed up against the wall which is right next to my bedroom.

"There was a tall person holding some form of machete knife against Marvin's throat.

"He was flanked by two other men, both holding large kitchen knives, at the top of the stairs."

She added: "They were shouting and swearing and saying where's the money, where's the money, where are the keys?'."

And she said: "All the time I was saying please don't hurt Marvin, he's done nothing wrong, please don't hurt him'.

"He said if he tells me where the keys and the money are I won't hurt him, but if he doesn't I will chop him up'."

The 15-minute ordeal ended when the trio fled the house in Eresby Drive with two flat screen TVs, £800 taken from a safe and a set of spare keys to a BMW 5 series car.

When the car was taken from the driveway two days later, two members of the Todd family gave chase in another car.

Mitchell was eventually stopped by police in the BMW and arrested.

The 32-year-old denied aggravated burglary but was found guilty on August 27.

He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on September 26.