'I was knifed all over by raiders': Stable owner tells court of terrifying attack

A STABLE owner told a jury he thought he and his wife were going to die when they were attacked by armed burglars in their home.

Mark Williams, 51, was repeatedly stabbed and slashed by one of two men who broke into his farmhouse on Siston Common, near Warmley, and demanded money.

Mr Williams was trying to defend his wife Susan, also 51, who was being held at knifepoint by the men after going downstairs to investigate noises the couple heard while they were in bed on November 16, 2010.

Giving evidence at Birmingham Crown Court, Mr Williams, who still bears visible scars from the attack, said: "We wrestled and the second man started hitting me with a walking stick.

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"I think by this time I had been stabbed as I was starting to lose energy. I must have been stabbed straight away.

"I tried to get away into the next room, tried to push him back with the door or trap him in it, but I had lost a lot of blood and was weak, so he overpowered me. By this time he was slashing me in the face as well.

"I had been stabbed in the left side, had a slash in my neck and slashes down either side of my face from scalp to ear and there was a slash down my left eye. I had squirted blood all over the ceiling from the cuts in my face and the floor was soaked – it was very wet.

"The chunkier man went upstairs and was desperately rummaging around. The taller man then told my wife 'he's a killer – he will kill you, he will kill you, he don't mind killing people'.

"I thought we were going to die.

"They kept saying 'which bedroom is the safe in' and 'where's your daughter'? My daughter was out and there is a safe on the land but it was not in a bedroom."

Cedric Brown, 46, denies wounding Mr Williams with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm and burglary.

The jury has heard that Mr and Mrs Williams were in bed watching television when their two dogs started barking at 9pm on the night of the attack.

Mrs Williams went downstairs in her pyjamas to investigate and found the intruders. She has told the court she screamed at them to get out, which brought her husband downstairs. She said she believed the couple's dogs, which had to be put down after the raid, had been beaten with sticks by the burglars.

The trial continues.