A HOUSE sitter suffered a fractured jaw after being brutally beaten with a baseball bat as a gang carried out a burglary, a court heard.

Darren Harvey was asleep in the living room of a house in Station Road, Wivenhoe, when he was awoken by a knock at the door.

He answered and was attacked by a gang who punched, kicked him, and smashed him with the bat.

The gang went onto burgle the house stealing a safe, laptop and a hard drive linked to CCTV at the property.

Kevin Selby, 31, is accused of being one of the men who broke in, while Leanna Johnson, 37, is said to have driven the gang there in her Peugeot 407 knowing it was their plan to burgle the house.

Both deny aggravated burglary.

Opening the case at Chelmsford Crown Court, Matthew Bagnall, prosecuting said: “Darren Harvey was asleep on the sofa and he was disturbed by a knock at the door.

“When he answered it he was met by three men wearing dark clothes and one was carrying a baseball bat.

“He was charged and subdued to the ground.

“He managed to fight back, get to the kitchen, climb out of the window and into the street in order to try and find help.”

A witness saw Mr Harvey in distress and three suspicious people getting into a Peugeot 407.

He tried to give chase but lost the car shortly afterwards.

Police traced the car as going back to Highfield Holiday Park in Clacton before it as later stopped in Ipswich with Selby, Johnson and three others inside.

Mr Harvey was taken to hospital for treatment for a fractured jaw.

The court heard Selby had been to the house in the days before the raid after Johnson had introduced him to the householder Rebecca Green.

During his time at her home, Selby had become aware of where Ms Green kept a safe used to store cash.

Ms Green and Johnson, of London Road, Clacton, were friends.

It is alleged Johnson would have known Ms Green was on holiday at the time of the burglary in April 2017 and where her CCTV was set up.

A trainer Selby was wearing had Mr Harvey’s DNA on it despite them having never met before.

Nobody else has ever been charged.

n The trial - which is expected to last a week - continues.