Brothers jailed for 'barbaric attack on elderly couple
They'll spend a total of over 23 years in prison
Two brothers - who robbed and attacked a couple in their home in North Yorkshire have been jailed.
Police have described the assault by John and Mark Gibbons as barbaric.
They were sentenced for a total of more than 23 years after breaking into the rural home near Malton in balaclavas.
Both victims were watching TV at the time and sustained bad facial injuries.
The Gibbons also stole jewellery that had belonged to deceased family members of the couple. Police were surprised to find Mark Gibbons wearing some of it when he was arrested.
The incident happened in October last year.
The couple had responded to an advert for a gardener and appointed John Gibbons.
He did some poor-quality work at the address and the victims found him strange, so they paid the ÂŁ3,500 bill to get rid of him.
Two months later he and Mark Gibbon went to their house covering their faces with masks and smashed their way through the front door while the occupants were watching television.
They immediately demanded money before spending around half an hour beating the couple.
When they left, the victims managed to call 999 from their landline .
Both of the brothers were charged with robbery and remanded in custody before appearing at York Crown Court.
Mark Gibbons, 44, of Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 13 years and 9 months in prison.
John Gibbons, 38, and also of Heckmondwike, was jailed for nine-and-a-half years after pleading not guilty but being found guilty by a jury.
After the hearing, Detective Constable Nicholas Burton who led the investigation, said:
“To call this attack horrific is an understatement. The Gibbons used barbaric levels of aggression against a totally innocent couple.
“Significant resources were put into this investigation and fortunately we were able to track down and detain both suspects within 36 hours of the offences happening.
“The fact that Mark Gibbons was still wearing the stolen personalised ring and chain - which belonged to a deceased member of the victims’ family - speaks volumes about him. People will quite rightly be sickened by the way both defendants behaved.
“While I would stress that attacks like this are extremely rare, especially here in North Yorkshire, this would have been a terrifying ordeal. So I am thankful that both defendants were remanded so they couldn’t pose a further risk to the public before being sentenced to prison."
Detectives praised the couple's bravery throughout the ordeal and the court process, which was exacerbated by John Gibbons denying the offence and forcing the victims to attend court to give evidence.