Pensioner tells of torture ‘hell’ in raid on home

Francoise Jansen, 73, said she thought she was going to die at the hands of the criminals who doused her in boiling water and threatened to cut her fingers off as they held her captive for several hours.

The elderly widow was alone inside her home on a private estate in Weybridge, Surrey, when the raiders forced their way into the six-bedroom property at about 10.50pm last Friday.

Mrs Jansen was forced to open a safe before the men, dressed in black clothes and balaclavas, helped themselves to a haul of expensive jewellery and personal items worth a reported £150,000.

She said she tried to press a panic button in her bedroom, prompting the burglars to boil a kettle and pour scalding water over her arm as punishment.

She was also gagged and tied to a radiator during the serious assault that left her with multiple injuries.

“I was consumed by fear. It was sheer hell and all I can remember is praying,” she said.