A TEENAGE boy will spend six years in jail for terrifying a 95-year-old woman and her son during a midnight burglary.

Robert Piper, 19, who was caught after his DNA was found on a discarded can of drink, was part of a hooded gang of at least five thugs.

They broke into Kathleen Roberts’s home in Southchurch Boulevard, Southend, armed with a bread knife.

Samantha Lawther, prosecuting, told how Piper and his accomplices, some of whom wore hoods, masks, goggles and latex gloves, raided the home on June 23 last year.

Mrs Roberts and her son, Patrick Roberts, 67, were asleep in their bedrooms upstairs, Basildon Crown Court heard.

Mrs Roberts, who is partially sighted and suffers from arthritis and hip problems, woke shortly after midnight, when three of the gang loomed over her, demanding money.

She told them there was no money and denied having a handbag, but the gang ransacked her room and found her bag, from which they took £60 cash.

She heard them say: “We’ve heard there’s a lot of money here.”

Mr Roberts, who has paranoid schizophrenia, woke up when the gang entered his bedroom, demanding cash, bank cards and their pin numbers.

One of the gang brandished a bread knife and told Mr Roberts: “If you don’t give us the pin we’ll stab you and smash your head in.”

Another went to a cash point and withdrew £704 from two accounts while Mr Roberts was being threatened, to ensure the pin numbers given were correct.

A further £200 was taken from Mr Roberts’s wallet.

The gang then locked terrfied Mr Roberts in a bedroom. His mother freed him once the gang had gone.

Piper, of Caroline Close, Southend, was convicted of aggravated burglary after his trial last month. He was acquitted of false imprisonment.

Piper was later arrested after police found a number of small cans of Schweppes drinks, which had his saliva and fingerprints on, outside Mrs Roberts’s house.

Judge Jonathan Black said: “For two elderly people who are not in the best of health, this must have been a terrifying experience.”

Piper already had 12 convictions for 21 offences, including three robberies, burglaries and assaults. Two of his suspected accomplices were cleared during the trial.