Brothers attacked elderly couple in Malton home during robbery

A man hired as a gardener by an elderly couple returned with his brother weeks later to carry out a "barbaric" robbery.

John Gibbons and his brother, Mark, attacked the victims in their rural home in Malton, North Yorkshire, repeatedly punching them and threatening to mutilate the woman with a cheese grater, York Crown Court heard.

The court was told John Gibbons had been hired by the couple two months earlier after they responded to an advertisement for a gardener.

They paid him a £3,500 bill to get rid of him after finding his behaviour "strange", police said.

Two months later the couple were watching television when the brothers smashed through their front door wearing balaclavas and demanding money.

North Yorkshire Police said the pair spent half an hour beating the victims. They punched both in the head, pinned the man to the floor by his neck and threatened to use scissors and a cheese grater on the woman's face.

Both suffered severe bruising and cuts following the attack.

The Gibbons brothers ransacked the house, filling a carrier bag with jewellery, cash and the couple's phones.

After they left, the victims called 999. Detectives tracked down the pair in West Yorkshire and both were arrested within 36 hours of the incident.

Det Cons Nicholas Burton said the fact Mark Gibbons was still wearing the stolen personalised ring and chain which belonged to a deceased member of the victims’ family "speaks volumes about him."

He added: “To call this attack horrific is an understatement.

"The Gibbons used barbaric levels of aggression against a totally innocent couple."

Det Cons Burton said attacks of this nature are "extremely rare" in North Yorkshire but was a "terrifying ordeal" for the victims.

"After all they've been subjected to, their courage to the very end has been admirable. It has helped convict two very violent defendants who were described in court as cowardly thugs and are now starting long prison sentences."

Mark Gibbons, 44, of Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 13 years and nine months in prison.

John Gibbons, 38, and also of Heckmondwike, was jailed for nine-and-a-half years after pleading not guilty but being found guilty by a jury.

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