A PUB landlord has spoken of the terrifying moment he woke up to a burglar standing over his bed.

Russell Claydon

A PUB landlord has spoken of the terrifying moment he woke up to a burglar standing over his bed.

Robert Aspinall had just taken over the White Horse in Great Waldingfield, near Sudbury when raiders struck at the pub.

He first knew something was wrong when he roused from a deep sleep to what he thought was his wife getting up to the bathroom. But then he looked over to find her still next to him.

“It was quite scary,” he said. “They broke in downstairs. They came in through the back and rustled around in the pub at about 4am time. They turned around everything upstairs and came in our bedroom when we were asleep. I thought it was my wife getting up to go to the toilet but then I turned over and I could see her next to me.

“All I saw was a mobile phone with someone standing there.

“I shouted a few F words and he belted back downstairs.

“They went in the safe but there was nothing in it. But they did get away with my laptop and my wife's laptop.”

The 37-year-old, who previously ran the White Horse at Sible Hedingham, Essex told how it could have been a lot worse if they had been using the safe, or the raiders had challenged him.

The computers were worth a combined total of �600 and one of them, he said, is hard to replace as it had a Thai keyboard and was bought as a gift for Noy Aspinall, his wife, by her son.

Although only one burglar was seen, Mr Aspinall was sure there must have been a group of them.

He said: “It was all dark. It could have been two of them, I do not know. They broke in the gents toilet window which is very small. I would say they had a kid with them and used them to get through the window and try and unbolt the door. But they couldn't do that, so they went around the back of the pub and went in the office window.

“I called the police straight away. There seems to be a few things happening around here lately. Someone walked around the back of a house down the road and tried to nick something.”

The couple had only been in the pub for three weeks before the raid on March 2.

A police investigation is currently ongoing into the raid and anyone with any information should contact DC Marris of Sudbury CID on 01284 774100.