This is the moment masked thieves tried to smash their way into a family home using a sledgehammer.
Dramatic CCTV footage shows the gang pull up outside the £800,000 house in Woodford Green, north-east London, in a white Audi before the four men, dressed in tracksuits, caps and balaclavas, get out of the car.
They unlock the driveway’s wrought iron gates before one takes out the hammer and swings it six times, trying to break down the front door.
The noise was so loud the frightened family said they could hear it from a third-floor bedroom. They screamed and shouted and the would-be thieves fled.
Academic researcher Mobashra, 30, was at home with her husband, his parents, and his 82-year-old grandfather when the raiders tried to break in at around 9.30pm on Saturday night.
She said: “They had their faces covered, they clearly targeted our house. They knew what they were doing.”
Scotland Yard carried out a forensic analysis of the house.
Anyone with information should call 101.
