Posted on 01/23/2008 7:19:19 PM PST by PotatoHeadMick
A millionaire yesterday told how he fought off three armed burglars who were holding a knife to his daughter's throat, saying he "would rather die like a man than a dog".
Bernard Dwyer, 51, was convinced he and his family were about to be killed so he chose to take on the men - hours after they had allegedly killed a restaurant owner, a court heard.
Mr Dwyer came to his 13-year-old daughter Aisling's rescue after hearing her piercing screams for help, the Old Bailey was told.
Despite being threatened with a gun, stabbed three times in the head and beaten unconscious with a knuckle-duster, Mr Dwyer fought back as one of his attackers screamed "kill the b******".
He managed to wrestle a gun from one of the masked raiders and chased them from his luxury home in Uxbridge, West London, in November 2006, the jury heard.
Yesterday, Irish-raised Mr Dwyer, a construction boss, faced two of the three men accused of the burglary.
Brothers Michael and Dean Atkins are also on trial for the murder of restaurant owner Helen Chung, 65, the day before the break-in.
A third man, Joseph Carty, committed suicide in his cell last year while on remand for both offences.
The court heard Mr Dwyer, Aisling, now 14, and his son Danny, 19, were asleep when three men burst in.
He said: "I heard people running up the stairs and Aisling screaming 'Dad'. I had never heard screaming like that before. I knew something was clearly wrong."
Mr Dwyer said he jumped from his bed and ran towards Aisling's room but was confronted at the doorway. "There were three guys coming towards me," he said.
"All masked, all covered with balaclavas, gloves, padded out, forensically aware.
"One man was holding a gun, waving it about, screaming menacingly."
He said they attacked him after he agreed to show them where his safe was, one with a knuckle-duster.
Mr Dwyer said: "I took quite a few blows at that point.
"I have seen things on television and I have seen violent stuff but I have never seen this level of violence.
"I was being compliant and they were smashing and bashing me."
Mr Dwyer was knocked unconscious for a few minutes and when he came round one man was holding a knife to Aisling's throat and screaming: "I am going to cut your f****** daughter".
Mr Dwyer said: "We were going to die anyway, that's what I thought. I thought, if I am going to die then I would rather die like a man than a dog."
Mr Dwyer pushed the weapon away before striking the attacker.
"I hit him several times, I hit him plenty. The man with the knuckleduster screamed 'He's fighting back the b******, kill the b******, he's fighting back.'"
Mr Dwyer said he was stabbed three times in the head but managed to fight the raiders off and shut the bedroom door. But the men tried to push back in and they fought again, he said. "I have never used a weapon in my life and it was a great feeling.
"I grabbed the gun and bashed it across the knuckle-duster guy. Next thing is they took off and I chased them down the stairs."
The raiders fled empty-handed, leaving Mr Dwyer with broken ribs and 30 cuts to his body and head.
The court has heard the blood of Mr Dwyer and the restaurant owner were found on the gun at his home.
Michael Atkins, 25, and Dean Atkins, 26, both of no fixed address, deny murder, two counts of aggravated burglary, wounding with intent and possession of an imitation firearm with intent.
It is claimed the two also murdered Mrs Chung the previous night after she refused to reveal the hiding place of her £218,000 life savings when they broke into her home.
The court has heard the blood of both the businessman and the restaurant owner were found on the gun when it recovered from Mr Dwyer's home.
A DNA sample matching Joseph Carty, 21, - who later hanged himself in his cell at Belmarsh prison last February - was also discovered on the handle and on swabs taken from the face of Mrs Chung.
Dean Atkins had escaped from Stanford Open Prison in on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, just two days before the attack in Cowley, west London, on November 5, 2006. He was allegedly picked up by his brother and Carty.
Kam Fum Chung, known by all as Helen, was grabbed as she returned home at Meadow View, Cowley, after finishing work at the Chinese Mandarin restaurant in West Drayton.
Within minutes of arriving home she was repeatedly kicked and stamped and died from multiple fractures to her skull, face, neck and ribs.
Michael Atkins was arrested six weeks after the attack on December 21 in the Southwick area of Brighton, East Sussex.
Dean Atkins was arrested in the early hours of November 18, 2006, when a car was stopped in the area of Langley, Berkshire, near West Drayton, west London.
The trial continues.
Your 70 ?...........:o)
Weren't me mate. When I was palling around the Ticos, I had an Ingram M10.
Might have been one of Smokey Taylor's pals, tho.
At this point, isn't he in illegal possession of a handgun by English law?
Good doggie!
Hmmm, a Rottie/Basenji cross also comes to mind....
Let them come up with a breed name for THAT one!
My game was the Napo River in Ecuador playing tag with the Sendero Luminoso .......MP5SDA3 and a P35 was my PDW’s..
I admire your notion of fair odds, mister.
--Charles Bronson line from The Magnificent Seven.
When was the TEL inventory? I cannot believe that anything so “American” could occur in the civilized UK much later than say, TELs death back in the post WW1 days.
Actually the burglars were armed with a gun and knives. Which is exactly what happens when a society allows the leftist loons to disarm law-abiding citizens.
It's not quite so simple as an estate inventory after his death. In 1935, T.E.L left the RAF and returned to Clouds Hill. While living here, he suffered severe head injuries in a motor-cycle accident and died in hospital. After Lawrence's death, his heir, his brother Prof. A.W. Lawrence gave Clouds Hill to the National Trust. It is now a museum, devoted to Lawrence.
The cottage remains largely as Lawrence left it at his death. It features an exhibition detailing Lawrence's extraordinary life, and most of his original furniture and possessions. The cottage reflects his complex personality and close links to the Middle East. It is open to visitors from the end of March to the beginning of October, Thursday – Sunday.
The back of the cottageLawrence reserved a sleeping bag for guests and visitors who stayed overnight. In 1965 it was stolen. The bag's disappearance coincided with the release of Lawrence of Arabia, the film which popularized his story with new generations of moviegoers. It was thought the theft could have been inspired by the publicity and excitement generated by the film.
"The sleeping bag that served as a guest bed to some of the 20th century's most distinguished authors at TE Lawrence's weekend retreat has been returned 36 years after it was stolen. National Trust custodians of Clouds Hill, the author's cottage in Dorset, were amazed when a weather-beaten package from Belgium arrived containing the sleeping bag, along with a sheepish note that read: 'This is yours'. The bag embroidered with the word 'tuum', was provided for guests at the cottage, while Lawrence slept on the floor in the other sleeping bag, marked 'meum'. According to Jeremy Wilson, Lawrence's biographer, tuum's occupants included George Bernard Shaw, E. M. Forster and Robert Graves
My bet is that the Lewis gun left about the same time...or it may have gone for the use of the Home Guard during WWII, since they were desperately short of weapons with which to try to repel the expected German amphibious and paratroop landings expected at the time.
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