Little girl saw her father being strangled after 'bad guys' broke in... she still has nightmares and asks if they're coming back to 'hurt Daddy'

'It breaks my heart knowing she doesn't feel safe in her own home', her dad said in a statement read in court as Elliot Cummings was jailed

A three-year-old girl who saw her father being strangled before masked robbers stole his car still has nightmares and asks him whether the 'bad guys' are coming back to 'hurt Daddy'.

Elliott Cummings, 29, was one of four men who burst into the family's home in Heald Green, Stockport, and demanded the man's car keys.

The victim punched one of them in self defence, before he was hit himself and rugby tackled on the drive outside.

While on the floor, Cummings put the man in a choke hold and strangled him as demands were made for car keys and watches.

He was strangled for more than three minutes and was fortunate not to have died, a judge said.

The gang targeted the man because they knew he had 'high value' property, including an Audi RS6 worth £75,000, Manchester Crown Court heard.

"They were shouting at me and I just couldn’t speak as one of them had me held around my neck so tightly," the man later said in a statement read to the court by prosecutor Alaric Bassano.

"I was trying to tell them to let go but I just couldn’t get my words out or speak.

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"I thought I was going to die. I really did feel like I was going to die, he had me by my neck so tightly."

The man's wife was upstairs putting their three-year-old daughter to bed when the thugs broke in.

She heard her husband shouting 'I can't breathe'.

The man was able to struggle free, but was assaulted again before the thugs drove off in his Audi.

They also stole 'designer items' including a handbag, purse and a wallet said to be worth £1,600.

Cummings, from Longsight, was caught following the incident on October 29, 2018. He left his cap at the scene.

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His DNA was found on the cap and the man's wallet was found at Cummings' home. The other robbers have not faced justice.

"The whole family continues to live in fear," Judge Martin Rudland said.

The man now pays £250 a month for a daily security patrol and has had more cameras fitted to his property.

He got his Audi back, but had to spend £8,000 repairing it.

In his statement, the man said: "On a daily basis, every night before her bedtime, which was around the time this incident happened, my child asks me if the bad guys are outside the house and are they are coming to take Daddy's car away and hurt him.

"This breaks my heart knowing that she doesn't feel safe in her own home and especially the fact that I am with her."

Weeks later, Cummings was also involved in the kidnapping and false imprisonment of a dad-of-two, who was only released more than 25 hours later after a ransom of £34,000 was paid.

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The court was told that Cummings, of Mull Avenue, Longsight, was 'recruited' to take part in the crime, and acted as a 'jailer' for their victim.

Others involved in the kidnapping were sentenced earlier this month.

Defending, Adam Brown said Cummings is 'deeply ashamed' of the impact the robbery had on the family.

Mr Brown said Cummings 'did well' at school and is a talented sportsman.

He has ambitions of becoming a personal trainer when he is released from prison, the court heard.

After pleading guilty to offences of false imprisonment and robbery, Judge Rudland jailed Cummings for 14 years.