Ambush 'may be linked to murder'

A couple were robbed at knifepoint as they parked outside their home, streets from where Battersea estate agent Timothy Robinson was killed during a suspected carjacking.

Police are today investigating whether the two attacks are linked. The middle-aged couple, returning from a shopping trip in their £30,000 Mercedes, were ambushed by three black youths within 48 hours of Mr Robinson's murder.

They were getting out of the car when the hooded men threatened them with a knife, forced them inside their £600,000 house in Petworth Street - a short walk from Mr Robinson's flat in Warriner Gardens - and grabbed a mobile phone from the woman's hand. They managed to take some cash before the woman pressed a panic button.

The husband, who does not want to be named, said: "We are still very shaken. My wife is terrified that these people might return. It was a terrible experience and we just want to forget the whole thing. We are scared to even answer our own front door."

Detevtive Sergeant David Flood, investigating the murder of Mr Robinson, 25, said today his team would begin looking at possible links between the two incidents. He added that three new witnesses came forward last night as police returned to the scene a week after the murder.

Detectives are still working on the prime theory that Mr Robinson was the victim of two men who wanted to steal his Audi Quattro car. There have been several other carjacking cases in the area, including one three hours earlier in Clapham.

Anyone with information should contact the incident room on 020 8247 8261 or call Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.