A GANG armed with knives tried to break into a woman’s home while she and her children slept inside but the burglars were scared off by her barking dog.

The burglars were attempting to break in to her Pershore home so they could get her keys and steal her £20,000 Volkswagen Golf GTD parked outside, Hereford Crown Court heard.

However, the raiders fled without stealing the new car when they heard her dog bark which also woke up the victim and her children. When she challenged them from a window of her semi-detached home in Loughmill Road one of the five men swore at her.

Darren Beard, Thomas Charles, James Flynn and Keaton Travers were sentenced on Thursday for the attempted burglary on October 28, 2017.

Beard, aged 38, of Bexley Road, Birmingham, Charles, aged 30, of Collingwood Drive, Birmingham and Flynn, aged 28, of Kingsbury Road, Erdington, all admitted the attempt.

Travers, 23, of Chingford Road, Birmingham, denied the attempted burglary but was found guilty by a jury. Travers made a prepared statement to police denying involvement in the attempted burglary, saying police would find nothing to link him forensically to the scene.

Travers claimed they were in Pershore for a Halloween house party but had been refused entry because they had no costumes, a version of events disputed by his co-defendants.

The attempt happened at 4.45am when the woman woke to see three people running away from her home. The gang drove away in a Vauxhall Zafira with the headlights turned off. The fifth man in the burglary has since died in a road accident.

The woman discovered damage to a side door and a panel on the door around the handle, suggesting some sort of implement had been used to get into the house.

The woman called 999 and a police patrol stopped the Zafira a short time later.

Officers found inside the car two pairs of gloves and three Stanley knives which judge Nicolas Cartwright said was evidence they were already equipped for burglary. He said the gloves explained why no fingerprints were found at the scene.

David Iles, prosecuting, said: "This was a five man team from Birmingham out to raid rural Worcestershire."

He argued it was 'organised and pre-planned' though the defence advocates claimed it was 'spur of the moment' with one of the defendants, Charles, claiming they had been 'out drinking in Worcester' on the day of the attempted break-in. However, Charles told his barrister, Caroline Harris, that he 'could not assist' as to where in Worcester he was drinking.

Judge Cartwright said: "It was obviously planned to a significant extent. If you had been out drinking in Worcester that goes nowhere near explaining what you were doing in Pershore on the other side of the M5 just past 5am."

Mr Iles said the woman had suffered 'a miserable Christmas' because of the burglary.

Judge Cartwright said: “This offence has had the most profound effect upon the victim. She describes her paranoia as almost overwhelming at times.”

After the attempted break-in the victim, who already suffered from anxiety, came off her medication so she could stay awake and would check and double check doors.

She was also reluctant to go out, changing her habits as a result of what happened and having friends and family visit her rather than the other way around.

She spent £565 on extra security features for her home and fixing the damage to the lock on the door. The court heard she could not work for three days as a result of what happened.

Charles also admitted unrelated offences in Fox Hollow Close, Rednal on April 1 last year when he brandished a kitchen knife and announced: "I'm going to kill everyone!"

Charles punched a neighbour in the nose, stabbed a door and shouted 'come on, I will have you!' while bare-chested and brandishing the knife.

He was arrested by firearms officers hiding under his daughter's bed.

Charles has a string of previous convictions including possession of an offensive weapon, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and theft. The court heard how he had previously chased a man while wielding a chair leg.

He told police he 'could not remember anything about it because he had far too much to drink'. Charles admitted affray, possession of a knife in a public place and two counts of criminal damage.

He was told by the judge: "Your behaviour must have been terrifying and there was a real risk someone could get injured or worse."

Charles was jailed for three and a half years. Flynn was jailed for two years and four months.

Keaton, who had no credit for plea because he denied the offences and was convicted after trial, was jailed for two years and eight months.

Beard, who had no previous convictions and hoped the burglaries would fund his expensive drug habit, was handed a two year prison sentence suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation activity days and 210 hours unpaid work which he must finish within the next 12 months.

Because Beard was the only defendant not given an immediate custodial sentence the judge ordered him to pay £781 in compensation to the victim of the attempted burglary which would ordinarily be split between all defendants.