Two burglars have been jailed for 15 years after they tortured and beat an elderly couple in their home, including breaking the woman’s toe with a sledgehammer, before stealing £20,000 worth of valuables.

Richard Leslie, 37, of Thornville Grove, Mitcham, and John McCarthy, 37, of Greystoke Court, Cambridge, played leading roles in the gang which inflicted the horrific, four-hour ordeal on the pensioners in November 2014.

The pair were described by a judge at the Old Bailey today, Friday, December 2, as “vicious, ruthless and merciless” after they and two other men dressed themselves in forensic suits and broke into the house in the village of Coton, Cambridgeshire, armed with a hammer and a crowbar.

The men used a sledgehammer to break one of the toes of the 75-year-old woman, made her walk barefoot on glass and threatened to cut off her fingers and ears with a pair of shears if they weren’t given gold, cash and Rolex watches.

Wimbledon Times:

Richard Leslie was said to have a “long-standing propensity to group activity and violence.”

Her face was beaten so much that she later needed extensive dental treatment.

Her husband, aged 77, was hit with a chair and stuck repeatedly with pins.

During the attack, one of the armed men boasted: “This is what we do for a living.”

The couple were bound with duct tape, beaten, threatened and locked in a utility room, before the burglars made off with £20,000 in valuables.

Items stolen included Chinese ornaments in 24 carat gold, jewellery, silver commemorative coins featuring Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, gold bars, a custom-made Seiko watch and thousands of pounds and Hong Kong dollars in cash.

The couple eventually escaped after the husband managed to crawl through a window in the early hours of the morning and they fled to their daughter’s home.

McCarthy and Leslie were later linked to Marc Smith, 43, of Fallowfield, Cambridge, who previously worked for a taxi firm the victims used.

When Smith’s home was searched, police found a new kiln for smelting down precious metals and £15,000 in cash. Smith later admitted handling stolen goods.

The other men who were involved in the burglary have never been caught.

Following a retrial at the Old Bailey, former cleaners Leslie and McCarthy were found guilty of aggravated burglary and sentenced to 15 years in prison, with five years on extended license.

Leslie will have to serve two thirds of the jail term before being eligible for parole, after he committed two more burglaries while on bail last year.

Defending Leslie, barrister John Farmer told the court that the evidence was his client was involved in the burglary but was not inside the house, while barrister Ramiz Gursoy said McCarthy was struggling with “personal difficulties” including drug use, an unhappy upbringing and issues with his partner.

However, Judge Richard Hone QC condemned their behaviour, and said: “You are every householder’s worst nightmare.

“You are both serial professional burglars and well connected with other burglars in the Cambridge area, whom you decline to name.”

He also highlighted the pair’s long criminal histories, including Leslie’s “long-standing propensity to group activity and violence.”

Detective Inspector Alan Page, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said: "This was a truly despicable crime committed against two elderly vulnerable victims.

"Those who commit this type of crime need to realise that we will leave no stone unturned in the fight to bring to justice those responsible."

Smith's case has been adjourned to a further hearing on December 8.

A fourth defendant, Jacob O'Dell, 20, from Cambridge, admitted sending malicious communications to a witness on Facebook last year and was handed a two-year community order at an earlier hearing.