Couple robbed at knifepoint in own home by drunken thugs, including Sheffield man, in terrifying ordeal
A phone stolen in the raid contained irreplaceable photographs
Two drunken thugs, including a man from Sheffield, told a friend “we want to rob someone” before breaking into a house and holding a knife to a woman’s throat.
Their victims were at home on April 25, 2026, when they heard shouting and loutish behaviour outside their home.
When the husband put his head out of the window to confront two men outside - Luke Pickering, aged 26, and Thomas Hughes, 30 - they responded by breaking into his house and threatening him and his wife with a kitchen knife while demanding valuables.
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Sheffield Crown Court heard on November 9 how, just half an hour before the terrifying robbery, the pair had barged their way into a friend’s home swigging gin straight from a bottle and bragged how they “wanted to rob someone”.
After Pickering and Hughes spilled into the street, their drunken behaviour led to them being told to quieten down - a request which unwittingly gave the two thugs the target they were after.
They forced their way inside the house, where Hughes produced a 30cm-long kitchen knife from his waistband, held it to the woman’s throat and dragged her upstairs and into the bedroom.
There, they knocked the husband down and jumped on top of him, where Hughes again threatened him at knifepoint while demanding money.
The wife later told police she thought the intruders were going to kill her partner.
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They made off with a phone, cash, a necklace, and a small safe, which was later found broken open a short distance away.
In a victim impact statement read out in court by prosecutor Mr Oliver Connor, the husband shared how his stolen phone had irreplaceable photos of his deceased daughter as well as his grandparents on it that he could never get back.
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He wrote: “I feel very angry all the time.
“I don’t know the full extent of what was taken from us.
“It was terrifying. I’ve been struggling to sleep ever since.
“I don’t feel safe in our area, and feel frightened whenever I hear noises.
“It has made me feel weak and powerless.”
As well as making off with their valuables, the pair extensively damaged the victims’ doors and windows in their rampage.
Pickering, of Norfolk Park Road, Norfolk Park and Hughes, of Hillcrest Road, Chesterfield, were arrested shortly after and pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery.
Pickering’s defence barrister, Dermott Hughes, said his client “wants to change” and turn his back on drinking.
Hughes’ representative, Chris Aspinall, said the 30-year-old had “very little memory “ of the incident but accepts it was him and is “appalled” at himself.
The pair were each sentenced to six years behind bars.