Two robbers who attacked an elderly couple at their country cottage with a knife and a stun gun have been jailed for a total of 28 years.

Mark Dinmore and Ian Williams terrorised quadruple heart bypass survivor Gordon McEwan and his wife Susan, tying them up before stealing thousands of pounds worth of furniture and a car.

Mr McEwan, 70, woke to find Williams cutting his face with a kitchen knife while Mrs McEwan, 64, was beaten during the hour-long ordeal in their detached home at Blackboys, near Uckfield.

John Marsden-Lynch, prosecuting, told Lewes Crown Court Mrs McEwan had been dozing in an armchair on August 28 last year. She awoke to see a hooded man in the room.

Dinmore, 33, of Newhaven Street, Brighton, told the former nurse to go with him and said he would not hurt her.

Mr Marsden-Lynch said: "She was shocked but got up and tried to think of a way to escape so she could raise the alarm.

"She went screaming for help when she made an escape through double-glazed doors and a small garden gate. But, as Mrs McEwan reached the end of the garden, both men grabbed her and beat her about the head and the body.

"They dragged her back into the house and threw her over the bed. She saw her husband - he was covered in blood."

Mr McEwan had woken to find Williams, 38, of Stanford Avenue, Brighton, straddling him, cutting his head.

Williams, armed with a stun gun, said he was a "psychiatric case" and continued to demand money and antiques while repeatedly threatening to kill the couple.

The robbers tied up their victims before loading furniture into a Ford Fiesta and the couple's Volkswagen people carrier.

Mrs McEwan managed to break free and call the police. Officers arrested Dinmore 40 minutes later on suspicion of burglary after they stopped him for driving through a red light.

Williams, who had crashed the people carrier within a mile of the couple's home, was arrested after a DNA match.

Williams admitted robbery, two charges of false imprisonment and possessing a weapon with intent to cause fear of violence.

Dinmore admitted robbery, unlawfully imprisoning Mrs McEwan and possessing a stun gun.

Mr McEwan, who had suffered a number of strokes prior to the attack, said in a statement read to the court: "Three days after the robbery, I had massive chest pains and was rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack.

"I spent four days in intensive care and the hospital said the cause of the pain was muscular, from being manhandled."

Mrs McEwan, in a similar statement, said she still visualised disturbing scenes from the robbery, such as her bloodied husband in his bed.

She wrote: "My outlook on life has changed and I will remember this horrific incident forever and take it to my grave."

Ricardo Scamardella, for Williams, said his client was disgusted with his behaviour, despite attempting a similar robbery in November last year. He said Williams committed the raid to pay off £45,000 in gambling debts.

Beverley Cherrill, representing Dinmore, said the younger man did not make threats to kill or use the knife or stun gun.

Williams, who was described as a "thoroughly dangerous criminal", was jailed for 15 years and Dinmore for 13 years.

Judge Simon Coltart said: "It is almost impossible to imagine a more serious and terrifying robbery than the one you two committed."

Outside the courtroom, Mrs McEwan said her husband, a former driller for BP and a publisher, could not attend the hearing because his health had deteriorated since the attack.

She said: "My husband woke up with Williams on the bed cutting his head open with a knife. It was total barbarism."

Her son Tom, 38, said: "Williams' statement of remorse was pure crocodile tears, otherwise he would not have committed a similar offence soon afterwards.

"He was trying to reduce his sentence and he got exactly what he deserved - it's a pity he did not get more."

Detective Sergeant John Easton, who led the investigation into the robbery, said: "The ruling was absolutely fantastic. We could not have asked for a better sentence."