Millionaire dad recalls terrifying moment masked thugs held machete to eight-week-old baby’s face in Rolex robbery at £3m mansion

A DAD has told of the horrifying moment a gang of masked burglars held a 24-inch machete to the throat of his eight-week-old baby as they raided his £3million mansion.

The violent thugs, also armed with a crowbar, stormed property tycoon Glenn Armstrong's home and threatened the infant as they looted family valuables.

They fled with Rolex watches worth almost £50,000, a Louis Vuitton handbag, a £4,000 Canon camera and the keys to his Rolls Royce.

The raid took place at around 10.45pm at the property on Bedford Road, Sherington, near Milton Keynes on October 27.

Mr Armstrong, 59, was asleep in the living room of his seven-bedroom mansion when the thugs scaled a fence and used a crowbar to force their way through the back door.

He told The Sun Online: "I was woken up by three men in balaclavas, two had machetes and one had a crowbar.

"They said: 'take your watch off... hurry or we'll chop your arm off'.

He added: "After I got it off they asked where 'the other watch' is. It's clear they knew about the Rolexes. I think that's why they broke in.

"They might have been watching me before the break in."

Mr Armstrong's partner, Charlotte Laudat, thought it was a Halloween prank when two machete-wielding men burst into her room as she lay in bed with her baby boy.

But reality soon set in for the mother as one man seized her tot and held a blade to his throat.

Ms Laudat, 31, screamed as they threatened her crying baby before swiping valuables including a £26,000, 18 carat gold Rolex Daytona.

Mr Armstrong said: "My partner was mid conversation with a friend on the phone when the two blokes with machetes burst through the door.

"She managed to shout 'help we're being robbed' before they grabbed her phone. I think that helped and made them leave more quickly."

He continued: "She said one of them looked like he was on drugs.

"I was being kept downstairs by the one with a crowbar. He was holding it over me.

"I was panicking. I could hear her screaming. She thought I had been hurt."

The robbers also demanded a diamond-encrusted Rolex Oyster watch with 18 carat yellow gold strap worth approximately £20,000.

The terrified family could only watch on as the men looted a DSLR camera, lenses and SD cards, as well as a luxury handbag.

They also made off with Mr Armstrong's mobile phone and wallet, which had £500 cash inside.

After grabbing as much as they could carry, the gang finally released the infant and fled the scene.

Police said Mr Armstrong had fallen asleep in his recliner chair at 10:30pm and hadn't yet set the alarms in his home, which is protected by a sophisticated night-time alarm system.

Ms Laudat's family has offered a £20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the crooks.

Mr Armstrong added: "Any person that holds a 24in machete to the throat of an eight-week-old deserves to feel the full weight of the law.

"These criminals not only attacked me for my watch, wallet and phone, but they then left one of their team standing over me with a raised crowbar while the other two went upstairs to our bedroom and held my partner and our baby with two-foot machetes to her throat and to our new baby's throat."

Investigating officer Detective Constable Lucy Jarrett said: “This was a horrible and frightening incident for the victims, who should have felt safe in their home.

“I am also appealing to anyone who has recently been offered or purchased a Rolex watch of the models given to contact us.

“Any information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, may help us with our investigation."

Property magnate Glenn made his fortune renting out videos to friends and starred on Channel 4's How The Other Half Live in 2010.

While on the show, he flaunted his helicopter pad, four acres of land, feature water fountain and pond, a triple garage and beautifully landscaped gardens.

However, he had previously lost his fortune after selling out for shares in Videostore which went bust.

He briefly became a taxi driver but used his business acumen to invest in properties across the country.

After years of working to keep a roof over his family's head, Mr Armstrong slowly rebuilt his fortune.

Eventually he came to own a portfolio of more than 200 properties worth about £30 million in the Milton Keynes area.

A source close to the family said: “Charlotte and Glenn have both had a turbulent time over the past couple of years. They did not deserve this awful attack - and their baby certainly did not.”

A family spokesman said of the raid on Mr Armstrong's home: “We want these evil people caught so they can’t do this to anyone else or their baby”.

The spokesman described two of the offenders as white men and one of Asian appearance. They were all wearing black face coverings, black clothing, black shoes and gloves.

Ms Laudat was given a suspended 18 month prison sentence in May this year when a court heard the fashion designer slashed her ex-husband Simon Laudat's eight times in a fit of rage, after finding naked pictures of a woman on his phone.

He broke both ankles leaping from a window to escape and appeared in a wheelchair in court, but she had met multi-millionaire Mr Armstrong by the time she appeared in the dock.

Tycoon Mr Armstrong was going through his own turbulent time after a messy divorce from his wife left him on the verge of bankruptcy.

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