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Two men have been jailed for the attempted robbery of an elderly brother and sister from Greater Manchester.
Anthony Neil Howard, 42, of no fixed address, and Naseer Ahmed, 39, of Walmersley Road, Bury, pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary with intent after being caught with duck tape and cable ties at their victims' home.
Howard was handed a nine-year prison sentence and Ahmed was jailed for eight years following a hearing at Manchester Crown Court.
The victims, who shared a house together on Anfield Road in Moston, were a brother and sister who at the time were 78 and 79-years-old, respectively.
At about 9.20pm on Thursday 9th February 2012, the brother was returning home from work when one of the offenders, garbed in a balaclava, pushed past him and forced his way into the house.
His accomplice, who also had his face concealed, then forced himself inside.
A struggled ensued in the hallway between the pensioner and the offenders. Hearing a commotion, his sister activated her panic button before entering the hallway to investigate.
She was pushed to the ground by one of the robbers, while the other was struggling with her brother. Police arrived at the premises shortly afterwards after being alerted by social services responding to activated panic alarm.
Howard was tackled by an investigating officer in the living room, and Ahmed was accosted in an upstairs bedroom. He was found in possession of a rucksack containing duck tape, a torch and cable ties.
Detective Constable Alexander Day said: "Howard and Ahmed preyed upon two vulnerable, elderly people, a brother and sister living alone who they knew would be no match for them physically.
"They had even gone to the lengths of arming themselves with duck tape and cable ties, and the obvious assumption must be then intended to tie their victims up if they resisted so they could ransack the property and steal whatever they wanted.
"What they failed to plan for was the quick-thinking of the woman who pressed the panic alarm, which alerted police immediately and allowed two response officers to get round to the house and catch these men literally red-handed.
"I would like to praise the actions of both the couple themselves who so bravely tried to fight off these two cowards and also for having the presence of mind to activate the alarm, and also the officers themselves who responded so quickly and caught these men in the act."
