A YOUNG mother has spoken of the terrifying moment she was threatened by two masked men in her North-East home.

The 27-year-old, who was in the house with her two-year-old son, said she feared for both of their lives as the men demanded access to a safe.

Police are searching for the culprits who slipped into her home at Byland Close, St Helen Auckland, at about 10am on Friday, February 19.

And the woman, who was restrained in her dressing gown as her bedroom was ransacked, is urging people to come forward with information to ensure they cannot strike again.

She said: “They are just animals.

I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go through what I have gone through. They held me and my son hostage.”

The woman, who is not being named, was in the middle of her morning routine when the intruders crept in through the unlocked front door.

“I was half-way through my washing up and a man was just standing behind me. I just got the feeling that someone was there,” she said.

The woman turned round to see a man dressed in dark clothing wearing a distinctive dark Lycra mask of the type used in motor racing.

She said: “I thought it was a joke at first.

“He started asking, ‘where is the money’ and I thought, ‘no, this is real’.”

The woman and her son were then restrained on a sofa, while the intruders made more demands for cash and the safe combination, before the second man went upstairs and ransacked her bedroom.

The woman managed to break free and run out of the back door with her son.

Neighbours called the police as the men made off through the front door.

Detective Sergeant Mark Willoughby said the pair may have left in a dark Ford Focus car or similar.

The man who restrained the woman is about 5ft 11in, slim and almost certainly white, with broken or decayed front teeth.

He was wearing a navy or black tracksuit top and matching bottoms, was aged in his 30s and spoke with a local accent.

His accomplice was wearing a dark bomber-style jacket and jeans.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 0345-60-60-365 or Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.