Couple robbed and tortured in Clapham home reveal 'ordeal of unbelievable brutality'

A gang of masked robbers repeatedly raped a 26-year-old mother in her own home as they tried to convince her boyfriend to hand over more cash.

Published: 4:01PM BST 21 May 2010

Gavin Gordon, 31, who has a string of convictions for violence dating back to his teens, was jailed indefinitely yesterday for the "horrendous and barbaric attack".

In an emotional victim impact statement, the woman, who cannot be named, said that she suffers from constant nightmares, repeated panic attacks and has lost two stone through depression since the attack in October 2008.

"Before all this happened I was a confident, outgoing girl that enjoyed going out to clubs and had a wide circle of friends,” she said. "Sadly all this has now changed.

"I now feel that as a mother I will never be able to protect my daughter, as on that night I could not protect myself.

" I still feel totally vulnerable and will live with this for the rest of my life.”

In his victim statement, her boyfriend said he lost his job following the attack and became "extremely stressed" that his attackers could be anyone he passed in the street.

Southwark Crown Court heard that the woman was leaving her flat shortly after midnight on October 26 2008 when several men approached her and demanded money.

They covered her head and forced her back inside her flat, where they made her text her boyfriend and ask him to come over.

When he arrived, they tied his hands with his belt and tortured him, wrapping computer cable around his throat, pressing a hot iron against his forehead and thigh, and rubbing lemon juice and bleach into his injuries. He was also repeatedly kicked and punched as the robbers tried to get him to reveal the location of a haul of cash which did not exist.

The woman was repeatedly raped as she heard her boyfriend screaming in the next room.

The gang later escaped with two cars - an Audi A3 and a Golf GTI, a black Skype 3G mobile phone, a black Nokia mobile phone, £300 in cash and keys.

Gordon, whose DNA was found on a juice carton at the property, was found guilty of robbery, unlawful imprisonment, actual bodily harm and theft.

Two other men, Reon Hall and Aaron Gelly, both 20 and from Surrey, were sentenced to nine years each in June for their role in the sustained three-hour attack.

Jailing Gordon, Judge Stephen Robbins told him: "You and others subjected this man and woman to a sustained attack, an ordeal of unbelievable brutality, subjecting the male to what can only be described as torture, burning him with an iron, covering him in bleach and rubbing lemon juice into his wounds.”

"The female was orally raped by one of you in this concerted attack carried out in the mistaken belief there was money to be stolen from the premises."

Gordon's actions "can only be described as horrendous and barbaric crimes on these individuals whose lives have been ruined", the judge said.

From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7749187/Couple-robbed-and-tortured-in-Clapham-home-reveal-ordeal-of-unbelievable-brutality.html