A burglar broke into a home and held a knife to a six-month-old baby’s throat, after demanding the child’s parents give him valuables.

Nicole McGrillen, 21, and Philip McDowell, were woken up by the sound of an intruder going through their belongings near where their son, Finley, was sleeping.

When the parents confronted the burglar, he allegedly held a knife to the boy’s neck, shouting: “Where’s all the stuff?”

He then fled the Belfast home with a number of items, including a laptop, a mobile phone and toys.

Ms McGrillen, who lives with McDowell, her mother and her siblings, told Belfast Live: “It was like something from a film.

“They didn't care that there was a baby in the room – he had taken a butcher's knife from the kitchen and went over and held it to Finley's throat and said, 'where's all the stuff?'.

“My sister Katie barricaded our seven-year-old brother in her room and we ran downstairs and called the police.

“You're just frozen with fear. We were begging them for our lives. My mum keeps my dad's ashes beside her bed so he was obviously watching over us.

“It brought all of that back but thankfully nobody was hurt.”

Ms McGrillen’s youngest sister said she was afraid her mother would be killed, as her father Finbar was murdered in a Belfast flat in December 2013.

“While mum was wrestling with him on the ground we were so scared that she would be killed like my dad was,” she said.

“One of them was fighting with my mum at the entrance to a bedroom, trying to stab her.”

Police said they were called to the Belfast house around 2am on Thursday 23 November.

Two men aged 25 and 30 have since been arrested.

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Detective Sergeant Philip McCullagh said: “Police received a report at around 2.10am that two males had gained entry into a house occupied by three women, one man and two children.

“The males were reported to be armed with knives taken from the kitchen of the property.

“When confronted by one of the female occupants, the two males fled the scene with a number of items including a laptop, mobile phone and a purse.”

Det McCullagh said police are appealing to anyone who may have seen any suspicious activity in the area or who may have information.