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A 29-year-old former takeaway operator has been sentenced to 14 years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court after orchestrating a violent midnight raid on a fellow Bangladeshi family in Birkenhead, during which raiders stole critical funds earmarked for an ailing mother’s emergency medical treatment abroad. Haneef Chowdhury, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to robbery following an exhaustive Merseyside Police investigation into the terrifying residential invasion on Borough Road in January 2022. The court heard that Chowdhury carried out extensive reconnaissance on the Bangladeshi household by posing as an official British Gas engineer just days before returning with two masked accomplices to infiltrate the property through the roof.
Prosecuting barrister Gerry Baxter told the court that Chowdhury played an indispensable role in targeting the apartment, having initially knocked on the front door under the false pretence of carrying out routine utility maintenance. Although the mother refused him entry during that initial scouting attempt, Chowdhury and two unidentified accomplices returned at approximately 00:20 GMT on 26 January 2022. Wearing dark balaclavas, the gang gained access via the roof, brandishing a blade and subjecting the parents and their five-year-old son to a traumatic ordeal lasting more than half an hour.
The intruders subjected both parents to severe physical violence, delivering repeated punches and slaps while issuing terrifying threats. Daily Dazzling Dawn understands that a knife was held directly against the mother’s throat while the father’s hand was forced over a household radiator under threats of immediate physical mutilation. Throughout the violent exchange, the couple's five-year-old boy pleaded directly with the armed gang members, begging the masked men not to harm his mother and father as the flat was aggressively ransacked.
The raiders eventually fled the premises with approximately £6,000 in cash alongside valuable family jewellery. The financial theft proved particularly devastating for the household, as the seized money represented hard-earned personal savings intended to finance urgent, life-saving medical care for the victim’s ailing mother back home in Bangladesh.
The physical and psychological toll of the attack has permanently altered the family's lives. In a victim impact statement presented to the court, the father revealed that the severe head trauma sustained during the beating left him with debilitating memory impairments. Due to the prohibitive cost of private dental care in the United Kingdom, he was forced to travel back to Bangladesh to undergo complex reconstructive dental surgery to repair teeth shattered during the assault. The family subsequently felt unsafe remaining on Borough Road and felt compelled to abandon their home and relocate to another neighbourhood.
Representing Chowdhury, defence counsel Philip Tully argued that his client had been recruited into the venture by others and had remained in a separate room while the two unidentified perpetrators inflicted physical violence on the occupants. The court was told that Chowdhury was subsequently handed a 31-month prison sentence in 2025 for unrelated drug offences involving the possession of class A substances with intent to supply. However, the prosecution maintained that his premeditated scouting mission as a bogus British Gas engineer was fundamental to orchestrating the residential raid.
Following the sentencing hearing, Detective Constable Hollie Stott of Merseyside Police emphasised the profound, lasting harm inflicted upon the victims by violent crimes within private residences. Speaking to Daily Dazzling Dawn, law enforcement officials confirmed that while Chowdhury will now serve an extensive custodial term, active investigations continue to trace and bring to justice the two remaining accomplices who took part in the Borough Road invasion.
