"MY home of over 30 years has become my prison.”

That was the heartbreaking message from a victim of a violent burglary in her own Reading home in November 2020.

33-year-old Ross Kirton, one of four masked men who broke into the family home near Southcote, was today jailed for his part in the terrifying raid.

In the quarter of an hour that the group carried out their burglary, they stole £1,600, knocked out the father of the house after hitting him with a meat cleaver, threatened to stab the mother with a screwdriver and waved a golf club over their son’s head.

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The incident occurred on November 12, 2020, when the four men travelled by car to the south Reading address.

Reading Crown Court heard how the thieves targeted the house as the owner often parked classic cars on his driveway.

They took a meat cleaver with them and once they had gained entry, picked up a golf club and a screwdriver.

One of the men put a screwdriver to the mother’s head while another stood over her son with the golf club.

 

Ross Kirton. Image via TVP

Ross Kirton. Image via TVP

 

The father was knocked unconscious with a meat cleaver after handing over money to the robbers.

He suffered a broken jaw and a fractured eye socket and in a victim impact statement, the man said he gets headaches regularly and still cannot see properly out of his left eye.

The burglars also smashed the son’s phone at the house so he could not call for help.

The mother, who we are choosing to anonymise due to the sensitivity of the case, bravely took to the witness box at Reading Crown Court to read her victim statement.

She said: “I am broken.

“The incident in itself was horrific.

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“Someone tried to stab me with a screwdriver and I have never been so scared in my entire life.”

Describing how she was made to listen as her husband was taken to another room and beaten, she said: “I thought my husband was dead.

“The emotional torment of this small number of minutes when I thought he was dead has stayed with me.

“I’m in a terrible place and I see no light at the end of the tunnel.

“I struggle to see a time when I will be happy again.

“My home of over 30 years has become my prison.

“My house is the place where I have felt safe for so many years. Now, it is the place where the most horrific incident of my life occurred.

“It casts a shadow over all the wonderful memories.

“I want to move from my house but why should I? It is my home.

“I lock myself in my room just to feel a bit safer.

“We lock ourselves in our bedroom at night. I have nightmares and I find myself waking up at the slightest noise.

“I used to love my garden but now I don’t like going there alone.

“I’m even scared to put the bins out.

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“I have no motivation anymore. I struggle to get out of bed and some days get dressed.

“The 15-20 minutes that incident last has simply ruined me.”

Sitting in the dock, Ross Kirton, of Hillcroft Crose, Lymington, said “I’m sorry” in response to the statement.

Clare Marshall Evans, defending, said the violence only lasted for four minutes out of the 15 minutes the burglars were present.

She said Kirton maintained he did not enter the house and simply drove the burglars to the address, something that was unanimously rejected by a jury following four hours of deliberations.

Her Honour Judge Nott, sentencing, told Kirton: “You’ve let yourself down, you’ve let your parents down and you’ve let your children down.

“We will never know why you went along that night but it seems almost madness on your part.

“The violence was wholly unnecessary.

“All that for just under £1,600. Four minutes of terrifying violence that has left a man still partially sighted and a woman with have significant psychological injuries.

“You have taken their liberty away from them.”

Kirton was sentenced to 12 years in prison for one count of aggravated burglary.

He was forced to sit down and recollect himself as he learned of his sentence.

The Hampshire man appeared at Reading Crown Court on Friday, April 1.