County Durham family in gunpoint gang robbery
A businessman and his family have been threatened at gunpoint by masked robbers at their County Durham home.
The couple, in their 40s, were asleep at their home near Fishburn in the early hours of Sunday.
Two men entered their bedroom, one with a shotgun, and demanded money. The robbers took a four-figure sum of cash.
The couple's son and his friends, who were having a pool party in the grounds, were controlled at gunpoint by two other men, police said.
After the attack, the men escaped in the family's Volvo car which was later found abandoned.
Police said the raid was carried out by four or five robbers who had their faces covered with balaclavas or scarves.
The men had local accents and one particular offender is described as 6ft tall, very thin, with "buck" teeth.
Police believe one member of the group was possibly a teenager.
Det Sgt Neil Jones said; "We believe this was not a random attack Someone has gone to the trouble of identifying and targeting this particular property.
"They put the victims through what must have been a terrifying ordeal, which not surprisingly has left them very badly shaken."