A family have spoken about their ordeal after a gang of thugs broke into their home.

Out of fear for their safety the family have requested to be anonymous.

The victims were a family of four, the parents, their son and their daughter.

Thieves broke into the family home through the kitchen window near Henley’s Corner at around 9.40pm on November 14.

Armed with shovels, screwdrivers and knives they forced the mother onto the floor and had her call up to her daughter who was asleep.

The daughter came down and was grabbed by the thieves, and both women were held hostage in the living room and were threatened with having their "faces smashed in" with a shovel.

The family’s son was out at the time with friends.

He said: “It was an ordeal and it just made me so angry to think that three men could just break into our home like that.

“They put my mum and sister through psychological torture.

“If I was there it might have been a different result these people usually don’t want to take the risk.

“I was hoping to move out and get my own place, but my family are in such a state after what happened I have to be around.”

When the father of the family walked in the thieves stopped ransacking the house and attacked him.

The elderly man in his 60s was beaten with the shovel but managed to stop most of the blows with his hands.

The daughter was also struck upon the head with the shovel.

In the assault, the wife, daughter and husband managed to get away and scream for help.

When the son heard from his sister that his family had been under attack he ran home and found a number of police cars and officers outside his house.

He found his sister and mother outside and crying while his father spoke with police.

The robbers asked for gold, cash and if there was any safe – they made off with thousands of pounds worth of jewellery that had been passed down the family for generations.

A police investigation continues.