Hackney Teen Crime Gang Targeted Woman in Home Invasion

Four teenagers held a young woman captive during a terrifying raid on her home that lasted an hour.

The gang, whose youngest member was 16 years old at the time, burst into the victim's home in Hackney, east London, when she answered the door to them in December 2011.

They threatened to pull a bag over her head, thugs slapped her across the face and brandished knives and a gun in her face.

The gun was an imitation firearm and one of the gang struck her on the head with it, causing bleeding.

The terrified victim was helpless as the gang ransacked her flat, stealing cash, electrical goods and her passport.

The raiders escaped in a car but were pulled over by a police patrol.

Officers said they could smell cannabis in the vehicle and searched it to find balaclavas, knives, drugs and property belonging to the victim.

Ashley Allen, 19, Janny Mosy, 19, Daniel Watson, 18 and Devante Stephen, 17, each pleaded not guilty to aggravated burglary.

They were found guilty at Snaresbrook crown court and jailed for a total of 33 years at a young offenders' institution.

Allen was also convicted of possession of class B drugs with intent to supply and sentenced to nine years. Mosy and Watson were jailed for the same period.

Reporting restrictions banning Stephen from being named were lifted. He was jailed for six years.

DC Alex McCullough said: "This was an extremely violent offence committed by four men who used threats and the fear of violence to terrify and rob a young woman in her own home.

"I hope the victim can draw some form of closure from the sentence and feel safe now that the perpetrators are in prison."