AN ELDERLY farmer left battered and bruised by an horrific late-night attack by two robbers said today: "If I'd been a bit younger I would have seen them off."

John Hanson, 81, still bears the marks where the masked raiders hit him with a hammer and kicked him repeatedly while he lay helpless on the floor of his bedroom at his remote farmhouse in Blacko.

He revealed the robbers threatened to rape his 76-year-old, invalid wife Edith unless he handed over keys to a safe.

Fortunately Edith, who was in a downstairs bedroom, slept through the attack and was unharmed.

The couple spent a couple of weeks in hospital after the incident, with Edith being taken in for observation and treatment for shock while John was treated for his injuries.

Detectives are still hunting the two robbers, who they think may be local because of their accents and knowledge of the area.

Despite his age, Mr Hanson put up a brave fight against the two young men who broke into his home in the night on June 25.

As they barged into his bedroom he picked up a stick and hit one of the men. "Whether it hit him or the hammer he was carrying I don't know but the stick broke," said Mr Hanson. "If I was a bit younger and the stick hadn't have broken I would have seen them both off. They were a bit amateurish about it all.

"It could have been worse, a lot worse."

The men tied up Mr Hanson and then demanded the safe keys. As he argued with them one of the men hit him on the cheekbone with a hammer.

"I felt a bit dizzy and sort of flaked out for a while," explained Mr Hanson. "I thought the best job was to just lie there quiet."

The men also kicked him in the ribs and on the legs until they found the keys and went back downstairs to raid the safe.

Mr Hanson used his teeth to undo the rope and turned on an upstairs light.

The men came back to his bedroom and threatened to tie up Mr Hanson again. "I told them 'no, get what you want and go away'," he said.

"I told them it was a pity they couldn't find a better job than robbing people."

The men escaped with cash and valuables worth several thousand pounds.

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