A ‘violent’ gang who posed as police officers, punched a mother and made off with her family’s pup and Christmas presents have been jailed.
Michael Cloherty, 58, Simon Ludlow, 50, and Michael Cook, 54, robbed a family in Putney, London, on November 21 last year.
The trio knocked on the door of the woman’s home on Arabella Drive wearing caps with the word ‘police’ on them as she and her three kids were heading out.
Claiming they needed to conduct a drug search, the homeowner refused to let them in as one of them produced a fake police ID badge and carried batons.
The Metropolitan Police said today the men grabbed the woman, in her 30s, by the throat and forced her back inside her home.
She suffered a deluge of stomps and punches as the men tied her hands with cable-ties all while her children were in the house.
They then ransacked her home, running off with her cash, Christmas presents and even her two-month-old American bulldog puppy.
Police managed to catch the crooks after combing through CCTV footage to spot the men leaving Ludlow’s address in London Road, Mitcham, an hour before.
Call data records and other surveillance footage suggested they actually tried to rob a home in Putney before the victim or to spot points of entry and cameras.
The whereabouts of the dog, however, are unknown.
Police are urging those who may have seen the pup or offered an American bulldog for sale recently to call 101 quoting 1837/29NOV21.
The three men were all found guilty of aggravated burglary following a seven-day trial at Kingston Crown Court on November 9.
Cloherty, of Chipperfield Road, Orpington, was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Ludlow was handed a 12-year sentence while Cook, of Northborough Road, London, was sentenced to 13 years.
Detective Inspector Andy Durham from Specialist Crime South said the three men were ‘violent offenders’.
‘These three individuals have pretended to be police officers to gain entry, before using extreme violence to rob a mother in her family home,’ he said.
‘They have caused her injuries before stealing her children’s presents and their very young beloved puppy.’
Detective Inspector Dan Whitten from the South West Command Unit added: ‘This offence involved extensive planning, violence and a disregard for the impact on the vulnerable children present.
‘The offenders clearly posed a wider risk to the public.’
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