Burglars 'held knife to teenager'

A teenager said she froze with fear when robbers held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her during a burglary, the Old Bailey has heard.

Aisling Dwyer, 13, recalled the raid at the family home in West Drayton, west London, in a recorded interview.

A man grabbed her and told her father "I'll cut your daughter", jurors heard.

Brothers Dean and Michael Atkins, from Uxbridge, west London, deny wounding, possessing an imitation handgun and aggravated burglary last November.

Fought back

The pair also deny the murder of 65-year-old restaurant owner Kam Chung.

Another man, Thomas Carty, 21, who was allegedly with the pair, took his own life last February while awaiting trial.

Prosecutors allege that three masked men burst into the house armed with a gun, knife and knuckleduster.

As soon as Dad started fighting back you could tell that they were worried Aisling Dwyer

Aisling, who was woken by the burglars, said she was grabbed by one man who threatened her with a knife.

In a video played to the jury, she said: "I kind of froze. I couldn't move."

"It was only when the man did that to me that Dad started putting up a fight. As soon as Dad started fighting back you could tell that they were worried."

The court earlier heard how Bernard Dwyer, a 51-year-old business tycoon, decided he would "rather die like a man than a dog" and fought the men off.

Life savings

His son Danny, 18, described how he and his sister cowered in a bathroom fearing their father had been killed in the struggle.

"You could hear running down the stairs, then you could hear silence after that.

"That was the point when I just assumed my father had been killed."

Earlier that night the robbers were said to have beaten to death restaurant owner Kam Chung, 65, when she refused to tell them where her life savings were kept.

The trial continues.