Attackers beat up dad in his Rugby home until son handed over X-box to stop the assault

And one of the attackers, Andrew Orzechowski, has been jailed for five-and-a-half years by a judge at Warwick Crown Court.

Orzechowski (35) of Park Road, Rugby, had pleaded guilty at the court to a charge of assault with intent to rob.

Prosecutor Trevor Meegan said that on December 30 the victim was at his home in Bilton, Rugby, with his partner and his 18-year-old son.

There was a knock at the door at shortly before 6pm, and when he answered it he was confronted by Orzechowski and a man called Daniel Kaye.

In a reference to cannabis, he was asked: “How much for one and a half?”

There was a discussion during which the victim told them they had the wrong address, at which one of them struck him over the head with a metal pole.

Orzechowski and Kaye, who Mr Meegan said had not been charged, then entered the house and began demanding money as they knocked the victim to the floor and began kicking him.

But the couple had no money, and all the cash they could offer was 15p from his partner's purse.

So as the demands continued, the victim’s son handed over his X-box console which they took before running out of the house and getting into a car which then sped off.

The registration number was taken, and Orzechowski’s DNA was found on a pair of gloves recovered from outside the property – but when he was arrested, he denied being involved.

Mr Meegan added that Orzechowski had a previous conviction for robbery, as well as a number of other convictions for offences including theft and burglary.

And at the time he was on licence from a ten-month sentence imposed at the court in July last year for drug offences, having been released at the end of November.

Ben Gow, defending, said: “This is a man who has suffered from the abuse of drugs for a long time, and he has a number of medical conditions. He has a reduced immunity and chronic pancreatitis.

“When he came out of prison, he came out to find himself homeless, and that didn’t assist him, and recently he and his partner lost their four-year-old child to adoption.”

Of the offence, Mr Gow explained: “There was no intention to burgle this house, or anything like that. The intention was simply to buy drugs.”

He said Orzechowski was ‘not unintelligent,’ and as a boy had gained a place at a grammar school in Rugby, but had lost it as a result of his ADHD.

Jailing Orzechowski, Recorder Anupama Thompson told him: “The victim was at his home with his partner and his son when you, along with Mr Kaye, knocked on the door and proceeded to have a conversation about purchasing cannabis.

“When he told you that you were at the wrong address, a metal pole was produced and he was struck to the head, and you entered his home and he was assaulted.

“There has to be a significant custodial sentence for this, but I give you maximum credit for your plea.”