BURGLARS who barged into a man’s house and slashed him across the face with a knife have each been jailed for three years.

Stephen Jones, aged 43, and 36-year-old Andrew Roberts attacked Christopher Szabo after he refused to hand over cash and a laptop computer.

Mr Szabo was so terrified that he jumped out of a first-floor window to escape.

Bolton Crown Court heard that Jones and Roberts, accompanied by a woman, went to Mr Szabo’s flat in Bryn Walk, Bolton, and knocked on his door.

When Mr Szabo opened the door, the trio pushed past him and walked upstairs into the living room of his flat. There the men began screaming: “We want some money. Give us some money.”

Mr Szabo said he had no cash, so the raiders demanded that he hand over his laptop instead.

When he refused, Jones said: “Get me a knife.”

Roberts went into the kitchen and came back with a table knife, which he gave to Jones, who swung it at Mr Szabo and cut him across the face.

Mr Szabo tried to escape, but the two men blocked the doorway, and the terrified man jumped out of the first-floor window.

Jones and Roberts both pleaded guilty to burglary and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

They both denied robbery, and were declared not guilty of the charge.

Jones, of Laurel Court, Bolton, was also jailed for a further six months because he was serving a suspended sentence for stealing £1,000 from a cake shop.

The court heard hat Roberts, of Neville Close, Bolton, had used heroin for 12 years.

Judge Peter Davies said: “You went there deliberately in order to dishonestly obtain money. You were trespassers, and therefore burglars, and you were going to stop at nothing to get what you wanted.”

julian.thorpe@thebolton news.co.uk