Couple fend off heavily-armed masked raiders in own home

A TERRIFIED couple have told how three hooded men armed with hammers and a crowbar tried to smash their way into home in an apparently random attack.

Ian and Rebecca Fisher were forced to endure a ten-minute ordeal before the gang were scared off by approaching police sirens.

After leaving empty-handed, it is thought the three masked men may have gone on to rob a woman in a nearby street hours later.

Mr and Mrs Fisher, who run a snack bar in Bathgate, said they had been left traumatised by the attack on Sunday evening, which began when they heard a noise in the back garden of their Fauldhouse home.

When Mr Fisher, 61, asked if anyone was there the three men approached the house and started to attack the windows as he closed the door on them.

Mrs Fisher, 57, who was left with a cut on her face from the broken glass, said: "When we asked who was there we expected them to run but they just came at us with hammers and a crowbar. It was horrific.

"They just started breaking the windows and hammering at the door.

"I was covered in glass and my kitchen looks like a war zone. It's destroyed.

"There was glass everywhere. It was all over us. They just flew at us with hammers and I'm glad we managed to get the door shut, but we had to keep fighting them off when the windows shattered. My husband had to grab a knife and threaten them to keep them out of the house."

Mrs Fisher said the attack lasted for around ten minutes, but she managed to phone police and the men fled when they heard the sirens.

"All throughout they never even said a word so I don't know why this has happened," added the mother-of-three.

"Maybe they knew I have a snack bar and thought I would have money in the house, but I never keep money here.

"I was mugged before, but my husband has never been through anything like this. It's been a terribly traumatic time."

The couple, who celebrated the birth of a grandson five days ago, said it was fortunate they were in the house alone.

A police spokesman confirmed they were investigating the incident, which happened at around 10:30pm on Sunday in Greenburn Road.

He added: "The three suspects are all described as male with a slim build. Two were wearing dark hooded tops with the hood up to obscure their face. The third male was wearing a grey hooded top.

"Anyone who was in the area and witnessed anything suspicious or can help us identify those responsible is asked to contact police immediately."

He said officers were keeping an "open mind" on whether the attack was linked with a robbery by three masked men outside the Masonic Club in the town's Bridge Street at around 9:30am on Monday.

The female victim was leaving the club when three men allegedly ran towards her, smashed her car window and stole a four-figure sum of money from inside.