A YOUNG dad has spoken of his terror after three men tied him up in his own home and threatened to kill him.

Raiders told Luke Williams, 25, they would ‘cut him up in his sleep’ if he reported the burglary to police.

The engineer, who was made redundant last week, had a metal baseball bat held to his head for 40 minutes while the men trashed his house looking for money.

Police said the incident in Arkwright Street, behind the Tim Bobbin pub, in Ightenhill, could have been a case of mistaken identity.

Mr Williams, whose parents June and Charlie were out shopping during the burglary, said he felt ill and had struggled to sleep since the attack at around 2.45pm on Wednesday.

He said: “I was in the front room playing my Xbox with my headphones on when the living room door opened and the first thing I saw was a baseball bat.

“Some guy asked me where all the money was and I was just thinking: ‘What money?’.

“I was terrified. I said they could take whatever they wanted and offered them my phone, my wallet, everything.

“Then another voice said: ‘We’re going to have to kill you’. The whole thing just went round in circles while they whispered to each other and I just stood there with the baseball bat to my head.”

The three intruders ransacked every room in the two-storey terrace home, stealing cash, keys, phones, jewellery and an iPad.

Mr Williams added: “They locked the front door and the guy with the bat basically watched me while they took stuff.

“They moved me to the stairs and tied my hands behind my back with my phone charger. They kept saying they’d kill me.

“They escaped out the back door and said if I phoned police within five minutes they would come back and cut me up in my sleep.

“I lay low for 10 minutes and managed to open the back door with my hands still tied together. I went out and asked a guy blowing leaves to untie me. He thought I was playing a joke but I was so scared.”

Burnley police said at least two of the three men were Asian.

The first man, armed with the baseball bat, is described as slim, 6ft tall with dark brown eyes. He was wearing a navy blue cotton tracksuit and had his face covered with a dark bandana and baseball cap.

The second man is said to have spoken with a strong Asian accent and was trying to cover his face. The third man, whose ethnicity is unknown, was wearing a faded, brown, hooded leather jacket, a dark baseball cap and grey gloves.

Carol Lochhead, wife of Clarets legend Andy, who lives in the same street, said police carried out door-to-door inquiries.

Mr Williams, who has two daughters, aged five and two, and a 12-week-old son, spent the night with his partner Amy at her house in Lanehead.

He said: “They said they would come back. You don’t know how crazy these people are. I don’t want to stay round here anymore.”

His mum, June, 52, said: “I just don’t want to be here now. If they didn’t get what they wanted, will they come back?

“There wasn’t a drawer in the house that wasn’t emptied. Everything was on the floor.”

Det Sgt Phil Pilkington, from Burnley CID, said: “This is a serious offence which has happened in broad daylight and has understandably left the victim occupant extremely shaken.

“Fortunately the victim was not assaulted but he did suffer minor wrist injuries.

“It would appear to be a case of mistaken identity and we believe these men have targeted the wrong house looking for large sums of cash.

“The men approached the house from Padiham Road area and I would appeal to anybody that saw them enter the house or in the area around the time of the offence to contact myself or DC Anna Chadwick at Burnley Police on 101.”