A MOTHER with her baby was left petrified when raiders armed with a machete burst into her home.

But Bradford Crown Court heard the intruders, who were looking for someone, had targeted the wrong house.

Prosecutor Heather Gilmore told the court that Benjamin Wilson and Brandon Ward attended the address in Reevy Crescent, Buttershaw, Bradford, just before 5pm on March 23 this year, and started kicking the front door.

The 27-year-old woman, who was in the house with her eight-month-old daughter, thought it was children playing a prank and went to the door.

But it suddenly burst open, hitting her and causing swelling to her thumb. The child was crying and agitated.

Wilson went back to the Mitsubishi Shogun they had arrived in and returned armed with the machete. He went upstairs to search but the men left the property after a few seconds when they realised the man they were looking for was not there. They were driven from the scene in the Mitsubishi.

Miss Gilmore said: "It seems a mistake must have been made and the person the defendants were searching for was not in this property."

She said the complainant was petrified and suffered a swollen and painful thumb which prevented her picking up her daughter. She had been left a nervous wreck and her baby would cry for days after when she heard a loud noise.

The defendants were identified by the woman. The identity of the car driver was unknown.

Miss Gilmore said Wilson had been recalled from licence after receiving a 15-month prison sentence for burglary, which involved him kicking in a door to break in. He had also been jailed for 24 weeks for offences relating to badgers.

Wilson's solicitor advocate, Ashok Khular, said: "He made a foolish decision to commit the offence over an unpaid debt for a motorbike, compounded by the fact that they went to the wrong address."

Emma Downing, barrister for 19-year-old Ward, said he was young, had no previous convictions, and had been led on. His loyalty had been misplaced.

Wilson, 27, a labourer, of Beechwood Avenue, Wibsey, and recovery driver Ward, of Briarwood Drive, Wibsey, pleaded guilty to affray and having a bladed article in a public place.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, jailing Wilson for 20 months, said he had returned to the house with a "fearsome machete, causing extreme fear of violence to an innocent lady with her child."

The judge said Ward was a young man of good character who was in bad company. He sentenced him to 14 months youth custody suspended for two years and ordered him to carry out 200 hours unpaid community work, with a 20-day rehabilitation activity requirement.