Couple targeted over £53m theft

An innocent couple are living in fear after being targeted by violent criminals who wrongly suspect they have hidden part of the haul from the £53m Securitas robbery.

Kenneth Crow, 59, and his wife Valerie, 55, were tied up and given electric shocks by masked intruders and received blackmail threats.

Mr Crow, from Golden Green, near Tonbridge, Kent, said the intruders mistakenly believe they had buried part of the money taken in the 2006 raid on the depot in Tonbridge for which six men have been jailed. About £32m has never been traced. The Crows had nothing to do with the raid.

Two masked raiders attacked them, demanding the money on 5 December 2008. Two months later the Crows received a letter stating the couple knew where the money was and threatening to go to the police. And on 18 January this year Mrs Crow discovered a stake driven into the ground behind their home with a threatening note attached to it.

Mr Crow, a fisheries consultant, said: "Someone has seriously got their wires crossed. We couldn't be further removed from the criminal world." Kent police are investigating.