"My baby, my baby, not my baby!" Mum's terrified 999 screams as machete thug rampaged through home
A terrified couple, along with their two-year-old daughter, barricaded themselves in their bathroom as a man waving a machete barged into their home. They were heard on a harrowing 999 recording as John Eichner, 35, rampaged through their property in Chorley on the night of June 6, 2023.
Preston Crown Court heard how the woman and her partner were woken by the sound of a dog barking. At around 3.30am, one resident went downstairs to investigate and saw two men outside the house.
William Cushnagan, 19, said 'Leonie' had sent him with some money, but the man did not think he knew anyone by that name. Cushnaghan then told him to 'shut up or I'll smash your windows'.
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The man went outside but Eichner produced a machete. As the resident turned to run back into the house, he tripped, and Eichner shouted: "Get the gold chain off him."
The woman locked the back door and called the police but the two men smashed the window with their weapons. Cushnaghan dropped the baton he was holding through the window and the man picked it up, LancsLive reports.
As Eichner swung the machete, the man suffered an injury to his finger as he tried to stop them from getting in. Eichner got into the house and chased the man upstairs, hitting him on the shoulder and left leg.
The man was able to get to the bathroom with his partner and child and family barricaded themselves in. During a harrowing 999 call played in court, the toddler was heard crying as her mum sobbed: 'My baby, my baby, not my baby...'
The man suffered an open fracture to his finger which required surgery under general anaesthetic. He also had scratches to his shoulder and toe, the court heard.
Four hours later, after leaving the property, the court heard how Eichner met up with Linton Ainsworth, 29. At 7.30am they contacted a man asking if he wanted to buy some meat and cheese he had stolen from a Co-op store.
The man agreed to meet but when he got into the car Eichner pulled a knife on him. The man tried to protect himself but there was a scuffle in the back of the car and the man was attacked to his head, back and arms.
As the victim fled the vehicle, Eichner bit him, the court heard. He suffered scrapes, bruises and a bite mark during the incident.
Later, at 10.50pm Eichner and Ainsworth were leaving Preston and travelling towards Penwortham in a Vauxhall Corsa, which had been stolen from outside a pub in Chorley. Officers tried to stop the vehicle but the driver accelerated and a drove dangerously away.
Eichner and Ainsworth jumped out of the car, when they pulled into a dead end street and were arrested.
Eichner, of Chatsworth Avenue, Ainsworth, of no fixed abode, and Cushnaghan, of Cross Street, Preston, appeared at Preston Crown Court to be sentenced. The court heard Eichner had also admitted theft from a doctor at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, when he was being treated as a patient, and theft of two cash boxes.
Judge Simon Medland KC, sentenced Ainsworth to 41 months in prison, and jailed Eichner for 10 years and 10 months.
Cushnaghan, who has no previous convictions, was handed a nine month sentence suspended for 18 months with 100 hours of unpaid work and 20 days rehabilitation activity requirements.