A terrified Bradford mum was forced to reveal the whereabouts of the safe at her home when robbers pinned down and threatened to kill her two young children, a judge was told.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the youngsters, was dragged around the house by her hair after two hooded and masked raiders forced their way in on a Sunday afternoon.

Prosecutor Duncan Ritchie told Bradford Crown Court that the children had been playing in the front garden and their mum was on the phone to her sister when 19-year-old Zakir Khan and another man, who has not yet been traced, confronted them and ordered them inside.

The accomplice dragged the woman by the arm into the living room and told her to get on the floor.

“He then took hold of her by her hair and pushed her face down on to the floor,” said Mr Ritchie.

“The defendant took hold of the children by their hair or head and pushed them into the same position.”

The court heard how the accomplice, who was carrying a hammer, told the woman not to look at him and then demanded to know were all the money and gold was.

The woman was dragged around the property by her hair during the attack and at one stage he said: “Where's your safe or your kids are going to die.”

“He then dragged her back to the living room where she saw her children still face down on the floor with the defendant standing over them,” said Mr Ritchie.

When the accomplice told Khan to “get the kids” the woman gave in and pointed to the safe in the office area of the house.

The house was equipped with a CCTV system and Mr Ritchie said it showed the accomplice holding the woman by the hair as she opened the safe.

The safe was rifled and the accomplice, who managed to get away from the house, eventually fled with about £35,000 of jewellery and cash.

During the raid the accomplice also removed the hard drive for the CCTV and demanded the keys to the woman’s car.

But the court heard that the woman had been able to shout to her sister before the phone was snatched from her and as the two robbers were getting ready to leave the house the woman’s eldest son arrived together with a friend and two police officers.

During a struggle in the hallway the woman and her son were both struck with a hammer, but it was not clear which of the two robbers was responsible.

As the accomplice fled the scene he pulled out a knife and was able to jump over the garden fence and run off.

One of the police officers wrestled Khan to the ground who was then handcuffed and arrested.

Neither the woman nor her eldest son suffered any serious physical injuries, but she later said she was “devastated” by the attack.

She said watching her children being forced to the floor by men carrying weapons was the most frightening part of the incident.

Mr Ritchie said the robber’s haul included takings from a restaurant and a substantial amount of gold jewellery included some inherited from the woman’s mother.

In a victim personal statement her teenage daughter and the two young children no longer felt comfortable playing in the garden.

The court heard that Khan, of Pollard Lane, Undercliffe, Bradford, had a previous conviction for resisting a police officer and his barrister Imran Khan said he had played a lesser role in the robbery and had only used minimal violence.

Khan pleaded guilty to the robbery charge and possessing an offensive weapon at a preliminary hearing a couple of weeks after the attack and yesterday Judge Peter Benson sentenced him to six years’ detention in a young-offender institution.

The judge described the attack on the family as “disgraceful criminal behaviour” and said he was satisfied that their home had been targeted.

“It seems to me you had a clearly prescribed role which was to stand guard over the children while your accomplice dealt with the mother,” the judge told Khan. The judge said threats towards the children had clearly been used to get the woman to reveal the whereabouts of the safe.