Artist tells of leap to safety as robbers raided flat

Artist Rebecca Newman faced a cruel choice when she was confronted by two violent burglars in her third-floor flat: jump 40 feet or risk being killed.

The men beat her on the head and threatened her with a knife, so she plunged out of the window - landing on concrete and breaking her back, pelvis and feet. The 30-year-old Slade graduate is still struggling to rebuild her life nine months later.

The intruders conned their way into her home in Honor Oak claiming to be from the gas company. "They were threatening me," she said. "They were two fit young men. I just thought, 'I want to get out of here'.

"I didn't decide going through the window was the best way - it was the only way at that time."

Stephen Collins, 24, from Islington, was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court last week to 10 years for two robberies and three years for GBH during one. Stephen O'Reilly, 27, of no fixed address, was given nine years and eight months for two robberies and three years for GBH.

Collins also received three years for a violent burglary in Haringey. Both pleaded guilty and their sentences will run consecutively.