Lotto winner’s gun raid terror

Tommy Cone: robbery victim

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OLDHAM lottery winner Tommy Cone and his wife Joan were subjected to a terrifying gun ordeal when thugs high on drugs or alcohol burst into their home looking for money.

Tommy (75) who has cancer, and his 72-year-old wife - who won £4.2million in the national lottery in 2003 - woke when their bedroom door burst open in the early hours to reveal two masked figures carrying a gun, Manchester Crown Court heard.

As one shouted for keys to their safe and demanded money and gold, the gunman pressed the barrel against the pensioner’s right temple and repeated the demand.

The raiders - and a third man - fled with only a £250 watch and some keys through smashed French windows as plucky Joan gave chase.

The attackers were found in their underwear, hiding in the loft of an empty house nearby after police were told where to look by an observant neighbour.

Nathan Riley (19), Elliot Howells (23), and Paul Boyce (28), were jailed for more than 22 years after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary. Police believe a fourth, unidentified, man was also involved.

Sentencing them, judge Angela Nield said: “This was an utterly appalling offence committed while this couple were asleep in their home. This vulnerable couple genuinely feared for their lives.”

Grandfather of 12 Tommy said while he hadn’t been too affected by the ordeal, his wife now prefers to sleep with the lights on.

The court also heard that hours before the raid last September 24, Riley had been involved in a robbery at a convenience store in Greenacres Road, Oldham, in which a similar-looking handgun had been used.

Though two others were involved, only Riley had been identified from fingerprints.

Howells, of Morley Street, Waterhead, was jailed for eight years; Boyce, of Summerville House, Manchester Street, Greenacres, for seven years and five months. Riley, of Longfellow Cresent, Moorside, was given six years and eight months at a young offenders’ institution for the house robbery, and two years and eight months concurrent for the store robbery.

The court heard that the weapon involved in the house robbery had in fact been a BB gun, which fired plastic shot rather than bullets.