A 32-year-old man who took part in a knifepoint robbery at the home of an elderly Suffolk couple has been jailed for 11 years.

During the robbery one of the victims was told her fingers would be cut off if she didn’t take off her ring.

Sentencing Jordan Carr, Judge David Pugh described the couple’s ordeal as “terrifying”.

He said that since the offence in 2018 the male victim had died.

“From the impact statement made by the victim’s son it is clear that the effect of the ordeal had a significant affect on what was left of his father’s life,” the judge added.

Judge Pugh said Carr and an accomplice had both been carrying knives when they entered the couple’s home in Norman Road, Bury St Edmunds.

“One of you went into the bedroom where the female victim was and pushed her on to the bed and demanded a ring from her finger and cash.”

“The ring had belonged to her son and when he died she had taken it off his finger. It was a precious memory of him,” said the judge.

“She was told that if she didn’t remove the ring her fingers would be cut off.”

Judge Pugh said the male victim was pushed to the kitchen floor and suffered cuts to his arm.

He told Carr that because of his criminal record and the circumstances of the robbery he considered him to present a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public by the commission of further similar offences in the the future.

He jailed Carr for 11 years with an extended licence period of four years and said he would have to serve at least two thirds of the sentence before he could be considered for early release by the parole board.

Carr, of no fixed address, had denied being involved in the aggravated burglary but changed his plea to guilty during his trial at Ipswich Crown Court in December.

A 47-year-old co-defendant had also denied being involved in the aggravated burglary and was cleared by a jury.

During the trial, the court heard that the male victim of the robbery had been about to watch ‘Match of the Day’ in the living room of his home while his partner was in a bedroom watching an episode of the crime drama ‘Vera’ when there was a bang at the front door.

The man went to investigate and was confronted by two men who forced their way into the house.

One of them held a knife at the man’s throat and told him to sit down while the other intruder went into the bedroom.

They then ransacked the house looking for items to steal.

The victim had picked up a cosh from a chair and used it to try to fight off the man holding the knife at his throat but he was pushed to the ground and slashed on the arms with the knife.

The intruders had cut the telephone wires and had then made off with a number of items, including the man’s wedding ring.

After the incident the male victim had gone to a neighbour’s house in a “state of shock and distress” to get help.

Police officers who later went to an address in Lancaster Avenue, Bury St Edmunds found Carr there with another man and, in a backpack belonging to Carr, they found 30 packets of cigarettes and tobacco which were stolen during the burglary.

They also found two bottles of a painkilling medicine belonging to the female victim and the male victim’s wedding ring down the side of a sofa.

A knife with the male victim’s blood was allegedly found under the sofa.

Chris Jenkins for Carr said the knife injuries to the male victim had been caused during a scuffle when he bravely sought to fight Carr off.

He said Carr had been jailed for five years with an extended licence period of one year in 2020 for a robbery at a Tesco Express Store in Lawson Place, Bury St Edmunds.