Masked raiders who held a knife to the throat of Cilla Black's youngest son escaped with jewellery, cash and gold worth more than £1m, the presenter said last night.
Her son Jack, 22, was beaten with a crowbar during the burglary on Saturday night when he was alone in the family house near the village of Denham, Buckinghamshire.
The valuables stolen by the three burglars included gifts from Black's late husband Robert Willis.
But Black, who left the Blind Date programme at the beginning of the year, said that while these losses were "heartbreaking" they did not compare to the ordeal her son had endured.
Arriving home yesterday in a chauffeur-driven black Bentley, she said: "I am just so grateful he is alive, and slowly coming to terms with what has happened."
After smashing their way in through a window, the burglars made Jack lie down with his hands cuffed behind his back. One held a hunting knife to his throat while the others searched the house.
Black, 60, one of television's highest earners, said: "I cannot say a great deal until I have seen the police, but having said that I just want to get in to see Jack because he has been subjected to ... well, you wouldn't treat a terrorist the way my son has been treated."
Jack was alone watching TV in his bedroom when the raiders entered the house around midnight on Saturday.
When he heard banging on his bedroom door he assumed it was his brother Ben, 29, who was to due to stay the night after attending a wedding near by.
Then, realising they were intruders, he tried to shut the door, but they forced it open and attacked him with the crowbar. The men threatened to kill him unless they were shown where Black's jewellery and valuables were, her publicist said.
He did so, and the intruders took all the gifts which Bobby had given her over the years. They also took her mother's wedding and engagement rings, cash, and a small amount of gold.
The men threatened to put Jack in the boot of their car and kidnap him, but after he reasoned with them they left him tied to a radiator.
Black said: "Our Jack has been a very brave man, and I'm extremely proud at the way he is handling this traumatic experience ."
Police said the burglars had left after around 15 minutes and were thought to have escaped across a private golf course. Jack did not need hospital treatment but officers said he was "extremely shaken".
Black said: "Obviously, the jewellery does not compare with what Jack has had to endure, but losing my collection of all the gifts Bobby gave me and my mam's wedding and engagement rings is heartbreaking." Her late husband, known as Bobby, died in 1999.
Police said the raiders had scaled a perimeter fence and forced open a ground-floor window. A spokesman for Thames Valley police said: "Police mounted a search of the area. The force helicopter was called in, as was the dog section, but the offenders were not located." Detectives were looking at CCTV footage taken by security cameras around the property, which was also reported to be guarded by electronically-operated gates and motion-sensitive lights.
Black has three sons; her eldest, Robert Willis, 33, is her publicist. As well as the Buckinghamshire home, she has a £1.5m penthouse in London and a £400,000 apartment in Barbados. She is reported to earn more than £2m a year.
