Two armed robbers threatened to kill a terrified couple before stealing their car and escaping with antiques and furniture.

Mark Dinmore and Ian Williams beat Susan and Gordon McEwan during an hour-long ordeal at the couple's home in Blackboys, near Uckfield.

At one point, Mrs McEwan who is in her 60s, ran into the front garden, screaming for help but was battered by the two men and dragged back into the house.

She was hurled on to a bed alongside her blood-spattered husband.

The robbers left after stealing antiques, clocks and furniture worth thousands of pounds.

They bound their victims with neckties and parcel tape. Mrs McEwan managed to release herself and call the police.

At Hove Crown Court yesterday, Dinmore, 33, of Newhaven Street, Brighton, admitted robbing the couple.

He also admitted unlawfully imprisoning Mrs McEwan and possessing a stun gun.

At an earlier hearing Williams, 38, of Stanford Avenue, Brighton, admitted robbery, two charges of false imprisonment and possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

The robbery happened on the evening of August 29 last year.

Mrs McEwan had dozed off in front of the television at their home but was woken by her dog barking and realised a stranger was in her living room.

He said she would not be hurt before leading her to the bedroom of her seriously ill husband.

She tried to escape but was thrown on to a bed where her husband lay covered in blood.

One man asked her: "Where's the money? Where's the antiques? I'll kill you. I have got a gun. If you move or speak, I will kill you."

The other robber thrust his stun gun at the pair. He told them: "Shut up or I'll kill you. I'm a psychiatrist case I am."

After carrying property out of the house, one of the robbers returned holding a large kitchen knife and told them: "Shut up or I'll kill you."

Detective Sergeant John Easton, the officer in charge of the case, said: "This was the most serious robbery I have had to deal with in 17 years with the police."

Dinmore and Williams will be sentenced at a later date.