Three men, who carried out an armed raid at a house in Upminster, East London, have been jailed for a total of over fifty years. In May 2020, Christopher Sargent posed as a courier before he, Anthony Lascelles and Ajaypal Singh forced their way into a home occupied by a mother, father, son and daughter. The intruders held a knife to the mother’s throat and demanded to know where their safe was kept. When the family told their attackers they didn’t have a safe or any money, offering jewellery instead, a knife was put to the son's throat and his life was threatened. The father struggled with Sargent for a time before being knocked out. When he came to with blood running down his face, he saw one of his own shotguns (usually kept locked up) on the floor. Fearing for his life, he picked up the gun before fighting over it with one of the intruders. The father said that the other man had his finger on the trigger as the gun then discharged, shooting the son in his shoulder. Following this, the thieves fled with around £20,000 worth of jewellery and watches. The son recovered from his injuries after being put into an induced coma, the mother was treated for a throat injury and the father required staples for a head wound. Lascelles, 34, was jailed for eighteen years after pleading guilty to robbery. Sargent, 28, received fifteen years for the same offence and Singh, 28, was handed a 20-year sentence after being found guilty of robbery and admitting possession with intent to supply and possession of a bladed article.