Kerry Katona and baby held at knife point by armed gang
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Former Atomic Kitten Kerry Katona and her baby daughter were held at knife
point at their home by three armed burglars today.
The 26-year-old singer, her husband Mark Croft, 36, and five-month-old daughter
Heidi were attacked at around midnight at their home in Wilmslow, Cheshire.
The masked gang, armed with a sledgehammer, crowbar and large kitchen knife,
held Ms Katona and her daughter in a downstairs room while her husband was taken
through the house by raiders. The robbers then took Mr Croft back to his family
before locking the trio in a room.
PR guru Max Clifford, who represents Katona, said: "Kerry is in a terrible
state. When I spoke to her this morning she was in floods of tears and
absolutely distraught.
"It was a terrifying experience. Luckily they weren't hurt, but Kerry was held
at knifepoint and the robbers threatened to kill them. It was such a horrible
thing to happen."
He told Sky News that the couple did have CCTV cameras covering the house, but
the three men wore balaclavas and so would be hard to identify.
Kerry and her family were 'extremely alarmed' by their ordeal
"I think one of them was holding a knife to Kerry's throat while the other two
were running around the house picking up everything they could, all the
valuables that they could," he said.
The family were left unharmed but the robbers escaped with around £100,000-worth
of goods, including the couple's blue BMW, two laptop computers and jewellery.
A Cheshire Police spokesman said the family were left "extremely alarmed" by the
ordeal. The family managed to free themselves at around 12.30am and contacted
police.
The couple only moved to the £1.5 million property a few months ago.
Katona's two daughters by former Westlife star Brian McFadden, Molly and
Lilly-Sue, were not in the house at the time as they were staying with
McFadden's parents.
A Cheshire Police spokeswoman said they were keen to speak to anyone who had
seen the car, registration MF06 KMM
Kerry Katona and Mark Croft have a baby daughter
A Cheshire Police spokeswoman said they were keen to speak to anyone who had
seen the car, registration MF06 KMM.
She said the family were not arranging interviews through police and were not
currently staying at the house.
Katona's next-door neighbour, Anne Pater, 55, said she was "frightened" and "scared"
after hearing what had happened.
The housewife, who has lived in Carrwood Road for 14 months, said the area was a
target for crime and she had already had her car stolen from outside the house
and slabs taken from the top of her wall.
She said: "Police came to my door at 2am to tell us there had been an armed
burglary at Kerry's house and to ask us if we'd heard anything.
"But we hadn't, maddeningly. These houses are so self-contained and we sleep at
the back of the house.
"I'm a bit frightened and scared now - we'll be a bit nervous tonight."
She went on: "We had our car stolen from outside the front of our house a year
ago and we didn't hear a thing, and we've had the slabs stolen from the garden
wall.
"I think this area's a target because it's wealthy, the type of cars we have
outside attract criminals, perhaps."
Mrs Pater sent her best wishes to Katona and Mr Croft and their family.
But she added: "There's never been a dull moment since Kerry moved in."
She said a number of police cars and an ambulance had been outside the house
during the early hours. "It was bedlam out there, I could hardly sleep," she
said.
Katona rose to stardom with girl group Atomic Kitten together with band-mates
Liz McClarnon and Natasha Hamilton but left in 2001 after falling pregnant.
She married McFadden in 2002.
In February 2004 she won the ITV reality show I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of
Here! She split from McFadden in September that year.
She later met and fell in love with taxi driver Mr Croft and the couple were
married on Valentine's Day this year in a small ceremony in Scotland.
The celebrity is also the face of the supermarket Iceland