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A gang has brutally attacked a young woman in her Cheltenham home and looted her family’s safe.

Sophie Wakefield, 21, opened the door of her house on Warden Hill Road at 6.30am yesterday to a man pretending to be delivering a parcel, before he barged past her with five other men.

They punched her repeatedly in the face and kicked her in the ribs until she opened the safe for them.

The men, believed to be Asian, fled in a black Audi A3 at 6.45am with high-value items and cash, leaving Ms Wakefield with substantial bruising to her face and ribs.

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The former Cheltenham Bournside School student was alone in the house, where she lives with her parents Richard and Jayne, and her 19-year-old sister Kirsty.

Her parents have offered a £5,000 reward for any information leading to the prosecution of those responsible.

In a Facebook post, Ms Wakefield, who cares for the elderly, said she is “terrified”, unable to sleep and suffering from tremors because of the incident.

She was too shaken to speak to Gloucestershire Live about it, but family friend Emma Austin has given the victim’s account.

Ms Wakefield’s parents had left the home earlier that morning to fly to Gran Canaria on holiday, while Kirsty was staying with her boyfriend.

Mrs Austin, 41, from Whaddon, said: “One man knocked on the door. He was holding a red clipboard and a parcel.

“He said ‘parcel’. She got out of bed, opened the door, took the parcel and placed it down.

“He barged through, knocked her to the ground and another five men followed.

“The first man pushed her head away and said, ‘Look away.’ He covered his face with a leopard print scarf.”

The men then repeatedly shouted: “Where is it?”

Ms Wakefield, who did not know what they meant, was dragged by her hair from room to room, suffering punches to the face and kicks to the ribs.

“It was just awful,” Mrs Austin said. “She was dazed and she had knuckle marks on her head.

“They held the family’s dog Shortie up by his ear and threatened to kill him. The poor little dog was screeching.

“That really upset Sophie. That family love their dogs like their kids.”

The men were yelling: “Where’s the safe?”

Mrs Austin revealed that Ms Wakefield was “very, very scared and shaking” as she showed them to the safe.

She got the combination wrong seven times, prompting one of the men to tell her he would hit her harder.

When she eventually opened it, the men were “cheering like in a football match”, Mrs Austin added.

They said: “We are going to make lots from this.”

Mrs Austin said: “Sophie was sat under her dad’s desk, curling up in a ball. She was thinking, ‘Am I dreaming?’”

She added that the gang took items and cash of a “very large value”, before dragging Ms Wakefield to the house’s wooden banisters.

“They put her arms over the banisters and one of the men went to get black duct tape,” Mrs Austin said.

“Another man said, ‘No time.’ He left her in the toilet and said, ‘Don’t you move or I will hurt you.’

“She was in there for a minute, poked her head out and the door was open, so she ran out.”

The men had sped off in the Audi, but a man called Aidan, who riding his bike to work, stopped to help Ms Wakefield.

He called police and an ambulance, which rushed her to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

“Originally they thought she had a broken jaw and ribs, but it was just substantial bruising,” Mrs Austin said.

After Ms Wakefield was discharged from hospital that morning, she spent the day with her sister and Mrs Austin, giving a statement to police.

“When I first had the message from Kirsty I was in absolute shock,” Mrs Austin said.

“She looked really fragile when I first saw her. I burst into tears, grabbed her and gave her a great big hug.

“She is such a tiny girl. She is seven stone and only 5′ 4″.

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“You don’t expect this to happen to you. It is like a horror story. I know this is going to scare her for a long time.”

She added that Ms Wakefield’s parents have been trying to get flights home, but not been able to yet.

“They can’t deal with it too well, being in Gran Canaria,” Mrs Austin said. “They have been ringing me in bits.”

Mrs Austin revealed that the men appeared to be Asian and aged between 23 and 27.

They spoke both in English and their own language, which Ms Wakefield was unable to identify.

She described the man who knocked on the door as quite large, with dark hair.

Mrs Austin suggested the house may have been targeted because of boards outside advertising family businesses.

Mr Wakefield runs Cheltenham Gas Services and Kirsty has a dog grooming parlour Gorgeous Grooms, based in the back garden of the home.

The victim is now staying with family in Devon for a few days, because she is too scared to stay in Cheltenham.

In her Facebook statement, she hit out at people who had posted comments questioning whether the incident had really happened.

She said: “To the people that say that this is all fake and made up. You don't understand the hell I have gone through in the last 36 hours.”

Officers are reassuring the public that they believe this to be an isolated incident.

Anyone with information should call Gloucestershire Constabulary on 101 or email 101@gloucestershire.police.uk quoting incident 54 of 3 November 2017.

Alternatively you can report anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.