Burglars held knife and gun to disabled man’s face after kidnapping his carer to break into his house

Masked robbers held a gun to a paralysed man's face after kidnapping one of his carers and forcing the terrified woman to let them into his home.

The gang snatched the carer at gunpoint from outside her home in Sandwell and forced her to drive to disabled Noel Martin's house in nearby Edgbaston at about 10pm on Monday.

Once inside, they grabbed a second carer and bound both women's hands with electrical cord before threatening 52-year-old Mr Martin.

Attack: Disabled Noel Martin was robbed at gunpoint by a vicious gang who kidnapped his carer to break into his home

Attack: Disabled Noel Martin was robbed at gunpoint by a vicious gang who kidnapped his carer to break into his home

Mr Martin, who was left paralysed from the neck down in an attack by racist thugs in Germany 16 years ago, could only watch helplessly from his bed as the gang ransacked his home.

Mr Martin, who needs round-the-clock care, said: 'When they burst into the room I was lying in bed. I saw the gun coming through the door and I thought it was a joke.

'Then they started asking for the money and jewellery. I told them I only had £20. One of the men in a mask put a knife to my throat and then the gun.'

Despite the threat, Mr Martin refused to be cowed. 'I’m not going to let a few people scare me. If they take my life, they take my life.

'What am I going to do? Get out of the chair and hunt them down? It would be nice but I can’t do it so I shall stay humble.'

He added: 'My main concern was for the carers and they way they were treated. They were both shocked but thankfully not hurt.'

The alarm was raised when one of the women managed to run out of the house and shout for help after the gang had fled in her Honda Civic car.

Shocked neighbour Tom Farrar, aged 65, told how he found one of the carers in the street with her arms bound after he heard her screams for help.

He only discovered the full horror of what had happened when he ran into Mr Martin’s home.

'I was gobsmacked to find another girl in the hallway trussed up with cable and lying on the floor,' he said.

The robbers bound two carers with electrical tape and threatened Mr Martin with a gun and a knife

Crime scene: The robbers bound two carers with electrical tape and threatened Mr Martin with a gun and a knife at his home in Edgbaston, Birmingham

'Mr Martin was lying in bed. All the drawers around him were all over the place. It was a hell of a state as they ransacked it around him.

'Those people who have done this are absolute lowlifes. To pick on someone who can’t defend themselves in despicable.'

Police said the women were 'forced to open a safe by three men who threatened them with a firearm'.

The gang took a quantity of cash and an engagement ring belonging to Mr Martin’s late wife. The stolen getaway car was found abandoned in Handsworth a short while later.

Following the ordeal, Mr Martin said he was confident the gang would be caught.

'The people who did this are not people, you can’t class them as people. I am sure justice will prevail.

'My carers haven’t been through this kind of thing. One is back at work already and the other will be back after a day off. They are tough cookies.'

Mr Martin was working in construction when he was critically injured in June 1996. His car crashed into a tree after far-right extremists hurled a 44lb concrete block at him in Mahlow, south of Berlin.

He suffered a double tragedy when his beloved wife Jacqui died of cancer in 2000.

Since then Mr Martin has become a successful racehorse owner and set up an exchange programme involving youngsters from Birmingham and Mahlow to help tackle racism.

Det Sgt Toby Davis, from Force CID, said: 'This was a particularly nasty and frightening experience for the two women, who were providing essential care for a vulnerable member of the community, who has also been left shaken by the incident.

'We are following up a number of lines of inquiry and supporting all three victims following this very serious incident. I would urge anyone who has any information about what happened to give us a call.'