A COUPLE have today spoken of their terror after four men entered their house and threatened them with a cosh - after first claiming they were from the police.

A COUPLE have today spoken of their terror after four men entered their house and threatened them with a cosh - after first claiming they were from the police.

Desperate for drug money they forced a woman in her 60s to search the house for cash while two men held a cosh over her husband's head.

Finally making off with £200 the thugs even took the telephone warning “if you tell anyone about this we will be back.”

The couple, both in their 60's, who do not wished to be named, were watching television last night in their house at about 8.30pm in Tally Ho Corner in Stratford St Mary when they heard a noise from outside and spotted four men in the garden.

While two of the men said they were from the police and had come to investigate reports of people shaking their car, the two other men had entered the house by the back door and began threatening the woman inside for money.

The woman said: “I saw them come in the back door and they said 'we want money for drugs'. They were calmly agitated. They threatened both me and my husband with a cosh. They kept on saying that there must be money somewhere in the house. They were so insistent.”

Eventually the terrified couple admitted there was money in a locked cabinet and the men used a screwdriver to unlock it.

The woman, added: “We got to the point that the leader was getting more verbal and it was becoming frightening. We then started to realise the seriousness of it. It's only this morning we started shaking. The village is normally so quiet you can hear a pin drop.”

The four men walked away from the scene. The couple then ran out to their shed where they had another phone and called police who launched a helicopter over the scene to search for the culprits.

Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Hudson said: “This was a frightening attack which left the victims scared and shaken. “Officers want to hear from anyone who saw any suspicious persons in the village yesterday evening, or may have any information about the offenders who left the immediate scene on foot but may have used a car to leave the village.”

The offenders were white, in their late teens or early 20s. One had a pale thin face and dark eyebrows, he was five foot three to five foot four inches tall with an Irish accent, and was wearing a dark blue baseball cap and black gloves.

A second male had a medium build with a round face. He was five foot two inches with an Irish accent and had straight, mousey, collar-length hair. He was wearing a light grey top and a black body warmer.

A third male was described as five foot two inches, short clipped hair and an Irish accent. He was wearing a black cap and a black jacket.

Anyone with information should call Dc John Gibbens at Sudbury CID on 01473 613500 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.