Students capture burglar who attacked them with a cleaver

A GROUP of students captured and held a burglar in their home after he attacked them with a meat cleaver.

They disarmed Jason Fisher, sat him down in a corner and hemmed him in with chairs until police arrived.

Fisher, 27, had injured two of them with the meat cleaver after he marched them upstairs at their home in Dunkirk, a court heard.

Judge Michael Stokes, QC, sentenced Fisher to nine years after he admitted aggravated burglary.

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He said: "They were effectively held prisoners, three of them in their own home."

Nottingham Crown Court heard their 40-minute ordeal began when Fisher, of Wilford Grove, The Meadows, and a knife-wielding accomplice went to the house. The students heard a noise from the back garden and went to investigate on Tuesday, February 24.

Tenants Yuan Lin, Sheng Hui Liu, Ruosha Ding and guest Zheng Guo were confronted by Fisher with the meat cleaver. The court heard the two men had targeted the address in Ednaston Road in error, as they had wrongly believed there were drugs inside.

The unidentified raider guarded the students in the lounge, while Fisher marched them upstairs in turns to ransack their rooms. He threatened to kill Mr Liu and inflicted five slashes to his chin with the meat cleaver. Mr Lin's throat was cut, but not seriously, and then Mr Liu suffered a carpet burn to his knee when he was pushed downstairs.

Paul Stimson, prosecuting, said they were guarded by the man with the knife.

"The defendant was looking for a shoe box, which he believed to contain cash, which he believed to be the proceeds of cannabis."

But the men were able to fight back when Fisher pushed Mr Guo upstairs.

Mr Stimson said: "He [Mr Guo] bravely fought with this defendant and disarmed him of the meat cleaver. The second offender fled and locked the back door, trapping this defendant in the house. The householders turned the tables on this defendant and detained him until police arrived."

Judge Stokes awarded Mr Guo £500 for disarming Fisher and £250 each to Mr Lin and Mr Liu. The court was told in mitigation that Fisher had been drinking heavily on the night of the offence.

Adrian Reynolds, in mitigation, said his client was more seriously injured himself.

In a statement after the hearing the group of students said: "We were terrified. At the time, we thought if we didn't get the knife off him we would die.

"He nearly killed us, and we think maybe he will do the same thing to other people. We do not want what happened to us to happen to someone else."

Detective Constable Chris Taylor said: "These victims showed an extraordinary degree of courage to take on and detain a violent intruder. Their bravery has rightly been recognised by the judge, while Fisher, a prolific criminal with a long history of offending, begins a significant prison sentence."

Police are still trying to trace the second intruder.