'Don't move or we'll kill you' - Pair threatened to cut off Newport pensioner's fingers for his pin

Two men have been jailed for tying up a pensioner and threatening to cut off his fingers unless he gave them his pin number.

Wayne Wren, 42, and Michael Anthony, 45, tied up the 78-year-old widower's as they stole money, bank cards and jewellery belonging to his late wife.

The pair were caught when their victim raised the alarm and were seen on CCTV at a cash point with his card. Fingerprints were also left at the scene.

Cardiff Crown Court heard how the two men tied up the widower at knifepoint and told him: "Give us your pin or we'll cut your fingers off."

The man had been asleep in bed when the masked raiders broke into his remote cottage.

Prosecutor Abigail Jackson explained: "It was at around 3.30am. The victim was asleep in his bedroom when he was woken up by a torch being shone in his face.

“One of them told him, ‘Don’t move or we’ll kill you.’ Michael Anthony had a knife he was brandishing and he was demanding money.”

Anthony then drove to a cashpoint to withdraw money while Wren stayed on guard at the house near Newport in Gwent before they later both fled.

Police later arrived to find the pensioner still tied up with the entire ordeal lasting just over an hour.

The defendants, both from Newport, were on drugs at the time of the raid.

Judge Shoman Khan described the event by the men as “shameful, shameful behaviour”.

He added: “You have committed a truly terrible crime. It’s like something you read about in a book or see on TV.

“The victim could barely comprehend this was happening to him. You invaded a 78-year-old vulnerable man’s home and subjected him to a horrifying ordeal.”

Wren and Anthony were jailed for 16 years each with the sentences made up of a 12-year custodial term plus an extended term on licence of four years once they are released.