A MEMBER of an armed robbery gang who terrorised three generations of a Bradford family in their home has been jailed for more than 11 years.

A pregnant woman, her student daughter and a frail grandfather were targeted by four masked men wielding a pistol and a kitchen knife who burst into their big detached home and demanded to know where the safe was.

One placed a hand over the woman's mouth to stifle her screams and she was flung on to a sofa, fearing she could miscarry, Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Her daughter, in her late teens, was throttled by one of the gang who then marched her upstairs with the gun at her back, prosecutor Glenn Parsons said.

Jamal Benjamin, 25, the only member of the group to be caught so far, was imprisoned for 11 years and three months.

He was cornered in a block of flats by an armed response team after his getaway car was tracked by the police helicopter to Huddersfield.

Benjamin pleaded guilty to three offences of robbery, dangerous driving in a hired black Ford Focus, and driving while disqualified.

Mr Parsons said the robbers targeted vulnerable victims living in a substantial detached house in the Manchester Road area of Bradford.

The property is surrounded by a seven foot high wall and the gang thought it contained a safe full of cash.

At 2.30pm on September 23, 2013, a man in black knocked at the house to check who was in.

Half an hour later, the gang burst in, dressed all in black and wearing balaclava masks and thick gloves.

One man picked up a knife from the kitchen and the another drew a black pistol from his belt.

Mr Parsons said the woman's father-in-law, staying in the UK from oversees, spoke no English and did not understand what was happening. He was elderly, frail and very frightened.

Benjamin, of Laverhills, High Town, Liversedge, ordered the robber marching the girl upstairs to take her back into the living room.

Judge Robert Bartfield said that showed he was "a significant figure in the level of command".

There was no safe in the house and the gang fled after seizing the woman's gold earrings, the elderly man's watch and £30 from her daughter's handbag.

The girl was praised by the judge for bravely following the gang outside and passing details of their getaway vehicle on to the police.

Mr Parsons said the family were left shaken and devastated.

Chloe Hudson, Benjamin's barrister, said the father-of-two did not see a knife or a gun during the robbery and did not expect weapons to be used.

His guilty pleas had saved the family the ordeal of having to re-live their experience in court.

Judge Bartfield said: "Both women have been traumatised by this incident. The family has installed security equipment but neither of them feels secure in their home any more.

"For the rest of their days, these two will remember that afternoon."

Judge Bartfield also urged the West Yorkshire Chief Constable to write to the student commending her bravery.