A music producer today said he feared for his life as he was held at knifepoint in his home by a thug who posed as a neighbour in need of help.
The 39-year-old victim had a foot-long bread knife held to his throat and was locked in his bathroom while three robbers ransacked his basement flat in Hackney.
Jason Brown, 41, had knocked on the victim’s door asking if he could borrow some money for electricity in a house two doors down.
Thinking Brown was “friendly”, the victim gave him some change, Snaresbrook crown court heard.
But within 10 minutes, Brown returned to the victim’s home in Clapton with two other men who barged their way into the flat.
“He took a big knife, a bread knife from the kitchen, with the serrated edges and he was holding me from my hair,” said the victim. “He was waving it in front of my face and held it to my throat. I thought he was going to cut my throat.”
The victim was left with a broken jaw after being repeatedly hit in the face during the ordeal on February 7.
“I was just pleased they left me alive, the first thing I thought was he was going to kill me,” said the victim, a lecturer at the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance.
The three ransacked the house in Reighton Road before fleeing.
Brown, of no fixed address, was found guilty of robbery and causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for 15 years last week.
