Millionaire betrayed by the car valet who led raid on his home: 'Pistol-whip' thug sent to jail

• Nathan McDonald, 22, who was one of four-strong gang who conducted a violent raid on millionaire's house, jailed for nine years and eight months
• Richard Barnfather was hit with a replica firearm as he and fiancee Debbie Leadbetter were blindfolded

Vicious: Nathan McDonald was one of three masked raiders who pistol-whipped Richard Barnfather when robbing his £1million home

A businessman pistol-whipped by thieves in his home told yesterday of his betrayal as it emerged one of the thugs was a car valet he had employed for four years.
Nathan McDonald, who was jailed yesterday for almost ten years for his role in the raid, had even visited millionaire Richard Barnfather’s home the day before the gang struck to wash his £190,000 Aston Martin.
During the terrifying attack on his home, Mr Barnfather’s fiancee Deborah Leadbetter was beaten and throttled, and her head smashed against a wall.
The four-strong gang escaped separately in the couple’s silver Aston Martin DBS, a black Range Rover Vogue and a silver Mercedes SLK convertible, worth a combined £280,000. They also stole jewellery worth £50,000.
Sentencing McDonald yesterday, Mr Justice Robin Onions described the raid on Mr Barnfather’s £1million isolated barn conversion as the ‘stuff of nightmares’ which had featured ‘gratuitous, completely unnecessary violence’.
Outside court, Mr Barnfather – who owns the country’s largest independent wire manufacturer, Barnfather Wire Ltd, based in Darlaston, West Midlands – said McDonald had visited his home to clean his cars ‘numerous times’ over the previous four years.
‘We made him welcome and gave him cups of tea but he has carried out a total betrayal of our trust and confidence,’ he added.
The court heard how McDonald, 22, met Mr Barnfather during a track day at the Le Mans race circuit in northern France, an event hosted by the businessman’s favourite marque, Aston Martin.
On the night of the attack, said Sharon Bahia, prosecuting, the couple first realised someone was outside their home when their dog began to bark.

Ordeal: Richard Barnfather and his fiancee Deborah Leadbetter on holiday in Switzerland before McDonald and his accomplices raided their home

The men raided the home (forensic officers pictured at the scene) in the village of Pattingham, Shropshire, and made off with three luxury cars and jewellery worth more than £40,000

When Mr Barnfather, 48, went downstairs to investigate, three of the gang used a large plant pot to smash their way in through the front door.
After being threatened with an imitation firegun, the businessman was taken ‘by the scruff of the neck’ to the kitchen and pistol-whipped.
His 38-year-old fiancee – who was dressed in just a nightie and a pair of knickers – was confronted in a bedroom by two of the thieves.
Miss Bahia said: ‘She only had a nightie on. The men started touching her, lifting up her nightie and patting her on the backside.’
The couple were bound with cable ties and beaten, and Mr Barnfather was forced to hand over cash, an expensive watch and the car keys, while other members of the gang began rifling through drawers. They eventually made off in the pair’s three cars.
The couple raised the alarm after driving to a neighbour’s property in a fourth vehicle they owned. Within hours of the incident at Lower Rudge, Shropshire, on March 9, the vehicles, which were all fitted with tracking devices, were found abandoned in Wolverhampton, eight miles away.

Stolen: Richard Barnfather was hit over the head with a gun during the raid. The gang stole these two expensive watches during the robbery

Luxury: This is the Aston Martin DBS which was stolen from Richard Barnfather

Terrifying: McDonald and two other men raided Richard Barnfather's home and made off with three luxury cars and jewellery worth more than £40,000

However, £45,700 of jewellery – including Miss Leadbetter’s £25,000 engagement ring, which the gang demanded immediately after confronting her – has still not been recovered. McDonald was arrested a month after the attack, after police matched his DNA to blood spots found in both the Range Rover and the Mercedes.
Officers also discovered an imitation pistol at his Wolverhampton home, which matched a magazine cartridge left at the scene. Shrewsbury Crown Court heard that although McDonald admitted robbery and possession of an imitation firearm, he denied that he had ever entered the house.
However, he was sentenced on the basis of ‘joint enterprise’ – meaning a group can be convicted of a crime committed by just one or more of its members.
The three other gang members remain at large. Mr Justice Onions added: ‘It seems clear that armed with the knowledge acquired through valeting you knew Mr Barnfather was a man of means.
‘You forced entry to the property and you knew what the occupiers owned - you made reference to the ring. This was planned, targeted and professional offending.’
Mr Barnfather said his fiancee, a former marketing manager, has been plagued by nightmares and the couple have postponed their wedding, which was due to have taken place next month.

Expensive: This diamond ring worth £25,000 was also stolen during the 'frightening' raid

A Mercedes SLK similar to this was stolen together with two other cars

He said the pair have since sold their home, Range Rover and Aston Martin. The Mercedes was also recovered, but was written off after being badly damaged.
Detective inspector Mark Bellamy, of West Mercia Police, said McDonald and the gang were guilty of a ‘particularly vicious attack on a couple in their own home’.
A £14,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible, including £10,000 put up by Mr Barnfather, remains.