A couple subjected a 25-year-old woman to a terrifying robbery ordeal during which she was stripped, bound and gagged and told she was going to be killed.

Michael Roe and Susan O'Brien broke into the woman's home in Hampstead in April last year.

Roe, who was said to be taking orders from his girlfriend, dragged the victim into a bedroom, demanded money and told her to put valuables into bags.

He took laptops, clothes, jewellery, a passport and money. When the bags were full he told her look for more valuables. He also took credit and debit cards and forced the woman to reveal the PIN codes.

The victim was then told to get on to a bed and her hands were bound behind her back with computer cables. She was made to lie face down while her feet were tied together. O'Brien then ordered Roe to strip and gag her.

The couple told her to stay where she was for 15 minutes, warning her she would be killed if she did not.

Eventually, the woman managed to untie herself and ran into the street, where she flagged down two people who called the police.

Roe and O'Brien were arrested two days later at a west London hotel. They were charged with robbery and burglary and remanded in custody.

Roe wrote a letter of confession to detectives from his cell in Pentonville prison and pleaded guilty at court in June 2008.

O'Brien denied the charges but was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court, where the pair were due to be sentenced together today.

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