Masked thugs armed with hammers smash up family home in Leicester

Shocking CCTV footage shows two men run up to the house and begin frantically smashing its front windows and door before fleeing

Two masked men with hammers were caught on CCTV smashing windows of a family's home.

The men can be seen running up to the house in Hamilton, Leicester, before aggressively smashing the front windows and door.

Their faces were covered with what appeared to be black plastic.

Anthony Corkill, 37, and Katie Gilbert, 34, were asleep in the home with their three young children.

The family of five were left traumatised by the attack.

The family say they had spent the evening watching television before the children went to bed.

"I just heard, 'bang, bang, bang', and it got more violent and louder."

Ms Gilbert said she had she fallen asleep on the sofa before being woken at one o'clock by the sound of glass being smashed.

"At first, I thought it was a brick being thrown into the window. I just heard, 'bang, bang, bang', and it got more violent and louder," she said.

"I was in total shock and I was shaking like a leaf."Mr Corkill, who had gone up to the bedroom before the incident, suffers from severe anxiety.

He said: "I had taken my tablets and gone to bed but I woke up just after 1 o'clock because Katie was screaming trying to wake me up.

"We thought someone was trying to break in."

"I ran downstairs, and opened the door, and ended up stepping in broken glass all over the front - it was everywhere."

"My neighbours were outside to see what was going on."

The couple's children, Ryley, 12, Rubee, 10, and Hunter, 7, had been left traumatised by the attack and were worried the men would return.

Mr Corkill said the two masked men had smashed around 18 window panels and left holes in the door.

The masked vandals also left a hammer used to smash the glass in one of the windows.

The family house was the only property to have been damaged.

Ms Gilbert and Mr Corkill believe it was a targeted attack but have no idea why.

Mr Corkill said: "We don’t know why anyone would do this to us. We keep ourselves to ourselves."