Two men prayed for forgiveness as they beat, tied up and robbed two women in their own home last year.

Paul Jones, 53, and Jay Davies, 37, entered a house in St John’s Street, Duxford, on September 3, where they helped themselves to food whilst a young woman had been tied to a chair.

An 18-year-old woman was in the house and texted her boyfriend to say she thought there was someone in the house.

The two men found her and, after a brief scuffle as she tried to escape, managed to hold her down and bind her with gaffer tape and computer cables.

She was knocked out with a fire poker and, when she regained consciousness, she found she had been tied to a chair in the kitchen and had a towel over her head.

She could still see the man: one was eating a banana and the other going through the freezer looking for ice cream.

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire police said: “At this point a car pulled up in the driveway. The victim’s boyfriend had called her mum who had returned home.

“The two men pinned her down and tied her up next to her daughter in the kitchen, using telephone cables.

“One of the men began reciting a lengthy prayer asking for God’s forgiveness for his sins.”

The victims eventually managed to free themselves from their bindings, but the robbers had left the house, taking with them the victim’s car, handbag and cash.

Police recovered the car, which had been abandoned still containing a handbag and a tobacco pouch which belonged to the suspects.

After analysing the fingerprints, the forensics team found a DNA match for Jay Davies, of Ilford, London.

Cambridgeshire police tracked him to an address in Kentish Town, London, where they arrested him four days after the crime.

Paul Jones was also found in one of the bedrooms, where he admitted to being wanted and “on the run”.

Paul Jones, of no fixed abode, received 21 years in prison and Jay Davies was handed 12 years at Peterborough Crown Court last Thursday, March 19.