Two thieves were jailed today after a mother-of-two was strangled at knifepoint during a burglary at her Withington home.
Police have described the attack as ‘frightening and very violent’, after the woman became so scared she suffered a nose bleed.
Shaquille Douglas, 19, of no fixed address, and a 16-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were convicted of aggravated burglary at Manchester Crown Court.
Douglas was jailed for eight years, while the 16-year-old boy was sentenced to four years in a Young Offender’s Institute.
The burglary took place on Rudheath Avenue, Withington, while the woman was at home with her children, aged ten and four.
She was putting out her rubbish when she was grabbed on the arm and confronted by Douglas, who told her to ‘shut up’.
The thugs dragged the woman into her house, before Douglas strangled her with a scarf while pressing a flick knife to her neck.
Douglas demanded the woman’s jewellery, threatening to kill her, while his accomplice raided her house, stealing a Blackberry mobile phone.
Detective Constable Matthew Smith said the incident has not only caused the woman a huge amount of distress, but has shocked the entire community.
He said: “No-one should be made to feel so panicked in their own home, particularly when her young children were inside and she could not reach out for help.
“I hope these sentences go some way to reassuring the victim and the community who were so appalled by what happened that the violent actions of these two men did not go unpunished.”
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