THE TERRIFYING moment an elderly couple were woken at knifepoint in the bedroom of their remote cottage and threatened with their lives was relived in court yesterday.

The police interviews with victims Rachel and Graham Fuller, of Nunnery Lane, were aired on video screens during a trial at the Isle of Wight Crown Court.

Mr Fuller had a dagger held to his throat throughout the ordeal at his home of 25 years.

As previously reported when the trial began on Monday, the couple were burgled in the middle of the night, kidnapped and forced to drive to a cashpoint, before being robbed of £600.

Mr Fuller, in his late 80s, was in bed naked when he became aware the bedroom light had been turned on. It was 2.45am on June 4.

Mr Fuller said: "I was horrified to find a stranger in the room. He was threatening me and had a knife.

"My wife had woken up. The man said 'I want money or I will kill you. I will kill your wife'."

They scrambled together around £25 but the intruder wanted more.

Mr Fuller said: "He was holding a sort of dagger to my throat. I feared the consequences would be somewhat dire if we resisted him.

"He was convinced we had more money in the house. He said we would go in my car (to get some) but I was a bit dubious.

"I was quite naked and needed to get clothes on before we could go into town.

"He was still threatening me. The blade was five to six inches long. I thought at first it was a kitchen knife but it seemed more like a dagger which you could plunge into flesh."

The couple were forced to drive their Volkswagen Golf to a cashpoint, with their kidnapper as a passenger.

Although the man didn't want them to go to Newport, and insisted on Sandown or Ventnor, Mr Fuller bravely drove into the middle of Newport.

He later told police: "It struck me if we went to Barclays Bank, someone could come by and we could somehow indicate we were in trouble."

They each withdrew £300, the maximum amount allowed, and handed it over.

He asked them to drive back to their house, but at Cedar Hill he jumped out and headed towards Carisbrooke Castle.

Mr Fuller said: "I thought I had better get the hell out of there before he changed his mind."

The couple, too afraid to go home, drove to Newport Police Station, but it was closed. Instead they stopped at a phonebox and dialled 999.

Within minutes the police arrived.

Isle of Wight County Press:

Mr Fuller described the ordeal: "It was a little bit intimidating, to say the least. During conversation (with the intruder), particularly when the death threats came, the dagger was put closer to my throat and sometimes it touched me.

"Rachel was very cool, calm and collected and it was easier for me to follow her lead really.

"All the "I will kill your wife" went on until we saw the last of him at the top of Cedar Hill.

"I didn't know whether I would come out of it alive. I thought we would be lucky to. I'm in my late 80s now and don't have the strength I used to have."

In a separate interview, Mrs Fuller also outlined what had happened and described the intruder as very aggressive.

She said: "He said he wanted £1,000 and I thought well this is ridiculous really. He was threatening each of us with bumping one or the other of us off.

"I thought the best thing to do was humour him but he wasn't capable of being humoured."

As the day's proceedings finished yesterday, the face of Mrs Fuller was left frozen on the court's video screen.

Recorder Paul Garlick told the jury: "We will leave it there, with the image of that extraordinarily courageous woman."

The defendant, Kazm Saed, 26, of no fixed address, is denying he is the man wanted on the seven-count indictment, which includes kidnap, burglary, robbery and possession of a bladed article.

The indictment includes burglary of Mountbatten's warehouse in Riverway on May 29, aggravated burglary at the home of 84-year-old Graham Deacon, at Riverway, on May 30, and possession of a bladed article.

Mr Deacon came face-to-face with a knife-wielding intruder when he went into his bedroom.

The burglar stole his bank card, took away his phone and cut the light cord with his knife, leaving Mr Deacon in darkness.

The jury saw Mr Deacon break down in his police interview after making a joke about coming out of the situation alive, saying "I'm making light of a very serious situation."

Struggling to compose himself, he said of the ordeal, "it was unbelievable."

Mr Saed, who has an Iraqi interpreter with him in court, later told police he had never been to Mr Deacon's house and said: "I wouldn't steal anything or do anything like that."

The trial continues.

UPDATE Friday: Kazm Saed has been found guilty