Two men from Norwich have each been sentenced to more than 10 years in jail after forcing entry into a home in Boston, restraining the female occupants, and making repeated demands for property, during which a knife and an imitation firearm were used to threaten them.
Derek Brown 61, of Kirklees, Norwich was sentenced to 12 years and nine months for robbery. He was also sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, to run concurrently, for possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Kevin Gibbs, 46, of Sherwell Road, Hellesdon, was sentenced to 11 years and two months for robbery; and three years, to run concurrently, for possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Both Brown and Gibbs had pleaded guilty to the offences on 12 March. They were sentenced yesterday (8 June) at Lincoln Crown Court.
The court heard how the men, along with another unidentified man, forced their way into the victims’ address on Tytton Lane East in Boston at around lunchtime on 30 November 2025.
They restrained two of the three occupants in the kitchen, tying their hands with cable ties, making demands for items while brandishing a knife and holding what was later discovered to be an imitation firearm to the head of one of the victims. They made off with a purse, a Rolex watch, and two mobile phones.
Urgent investigations identified the vehicle the men had travelled in, which was traced to a flat in Norfolk. Norfolk Police colleagues deployed armed officers, and the men were taken into custody that evening, where they’ve remained on remand since.
The officer in charge of the case, DC Chad Birch of Boston CID, said: “This was a particularly terrifying ordeal in which the victims genuinely feared for their lives.
“Such acts of violence and intimidation are completely unacceptable. No one should ever be subjected to such trauma, least of all within the sanctuary of their own home.
“We remain absolutely committed to ensuring that those who commit such offences are brought before the courts and are held fully accountable for their actions.”
