A GOLD dealer was robbed of £30,000 at gun point and his Range Rover stolen after he was stalked from a sale of jewellery at York Racecourse, a court heard.

John McDonald, 77, had been selling jewellery at the racecourse when he got home to find two men in the hallway of his home wearing balaclavas.

He was hit in the head with the gun, his hands were bound and he was told they had been watching him for weeks.

As one man ransacked the bungalow in Gilberdyke looking for rings, brooches and cash - the other ordered Mr McDonald to open a safe. He was told his fingers would be cut off if he refused.

He was punched and kicked and threatened, a jury at Hull Crown Court was told.

Andrew Williams, 55, of Ordnance Lane, York, James Williams, 52, of Chapel Garth, Gilberdyke, and Alexandra Wilkinson, 23, of Chapel Garth, Gilberdyke, deny charges of robbery.

The former girlfriend of Andrew Williams, Holly Marsh, 30, of Kingsway West, York, denies handling stolen property taken from Mr McDonald.

Crown barrister Peter Sabiston told the jury: “As Mr McDonald entered the property he was confronted by two males. We say James Williams was armed with the gun - he was the more aggressive. Andrew Williams was the calmer and appeared to be the one in charge.

“This had been planned. They told him to open the safe and threatened to cut his fingers if he refused. He was punched and kicked with unnecessary force for a 77-year-old man."

The jury heard that brothers Andrew Williams and James Williams took Mr McDonald’s Range Rover with the registration “G14OLD”, to a nearby grove in Gilberdyke before jumping into a parked Nissan Primera to be driven off by James William’s girlfriend.

When police found the Range Rover following the incident in May the car keys were inside and the engine still running.

Mr Sabiston said Mr McDonald was able to pick out James Williams at an identity parade as he had partially removed his balaclava during the raid. He picked out Andrew Williams as a man he remembered who was behaving furtively at York Racecourse the week before as a group examined his most expensive ring.

Mr Sabiston said the jury would hear of cell-site analysis of mobile phone putting three of their phones near the scene of the crime.

He said they would also be shown a video of the Nissan car's movements from York to Hull and Gilberdyke.

Mr Sabiston said police raided Ms Wilkinson’s home in Chapel Garth, Gilberdyke, finding a blue-top box which McDonald said was his and a brooch in the boot of the Nissan. He said police raids at Ms Marsh’s York home revealed four more pieces of jewellery which Mr McDonald insisted was his.

In police interview the brothers denied ever being anywhere near the scene. Andrew Williams said he had fallen out with his brother and not been in touch for 18 months. Alexandra Wilkinson denied any involvement in the robbery. Mr Sabiston said she was responsible for a Crime Stoppers anonymous call that said she and James Williams had been threatened and it was his brother and another man who were responsible for the robbery. Holly Marsh said the jewellery was hers and had been in her family some time.

The trial continues.