A pair of burglars are facing prison after torturing a wealthy couple in their home before making off with £20,000 in cash, gold ornaments and silverware. John McCarthy, 35, and Richard Leslie, 37, were among a gang who terrified the couple during a night-time raid in November 2014.



After a retrial at the Old Bailey, the pair were found guilty of aggravated burglary and remanded in custody to be sentenced on 3 August. Jurors had heard that four men smashed their way into a house in the village of Coton, Cambridgeshire, armed with a hammer and crowbar.

The home owners, in their 70s, were bound, beaten, threatened and locked in a utility room, the court heard. The burglars made off with gold ornaments, jewellery and silver commemorative coins, as well as money.

The couple managed to free themselves after the husband crawled through a window.

McCarthy, from Cambridge, and Leslie, from Mitcham, south London, were linked to Marc Smith, 43, from Cambridge, who admitted handling stolen goods. The three defendants will be sentenced alongside Jacob O’Dell, 20, from Cambridge, who admitted sending malicious communications to a witness via Facebook messages last year.