Family locked in bathroom during armed burglary

Three men forced their way into the property in Banbury on Friday evening

Police are appealing for witnesses to a knife-point robbery during which a mother and her two children were locked in a bathroom.

Thames Valley Police said three men knocked on the front door of an address in De La Warr Drive in Banbury, Oxfordshire between 19:45 and 20:45 GMT on Friday.

They dragged the occupant, in her 40s, by the neck back inside before smashing two mobile phones and locking the woman and her two children in the bathroom.

The woman received hospital treatment for a minor neck injury but has since been discharged.

Police said the occupant opened the side gate when she heard the knock on the door and saw two of the men were carrying knives.

One of them dragged her back into the property, before searching her pockets and those of her two children, a teenage girl and a seven-year-old boy.

They took the two mobile phones and smashed them.

Officers later released the victims from the bathroom and found that nothing had been stolen as the mobile phones were left at the address.

The offenders are described as wearing hi-vis jackets, having their faces covered and carrying clipboards.

Det Con Daniel Smith said: "Fortunately, the only injury was a minor neck injury for the female victim but this was obviously an extremely distressing incident for them all."

He appealed to anyone who might have witnessed the aggravated burglary or had CCTV footage or any dash-cam footage to get in touch.