A successful racehorse trainer said he thought his wife had suffered a heart attack when masked raiders held them up at gunpoint and robbed them of more than £100,000.
Howard and Sue Johnson, both 56, were relaxing at their substantial farmhouse outside Crook, County Durham, after one of the busiest weekends in the racing calendar when the terrifying eight-minute robbery took place.
Mr Johnson, the best National Hunt trainer in Northern England, was forced to open the safe in his extended house - which has an indoor swimming pool and stands behind high stone walls - then was told not to call police or they would be shot.
Sitting on the sun terrace at White Lea House, an emotional Mr Johnson said it was fortunate that his five-year-old granddaughter Anna-May had not stayed with them, as had been planned.
After watching Royal Rosa compete in the Grand National at the weekend, followed by a further 12 of his horses racing, plus attending to ewes who were lambing, Mr Johnson was relaxing at home reading the paper when the masked men tried to break down a door. One was brandishing a handgun while the other had a 7in (18cm) knife.
He tried to keep the men out, without success, and he was thrown against a glass door, cutting his forearm.
He was pinned down at gunpoint while the knifeman went upstairs where Mrs Johnson was reading, and marched her downstairs.
They forced him to hand over the contents of his safe which was around £100,000 - plus a further £1,000 left over from his weekend at Aintree.
Mr Johnson said: "Sue was shaking. I thought she had had a heart attack."
The couple waited 20 minutes before calling the police, and armed police were on the scene within minutes.
