ARMED hoodies hopped over five garden walls under the cover of darkness before attacking a group of housemates in their own home with cricket bats and a blade.

Some of the housemates were forced to barricade themselves in a room when threatened at knifepoint while a helpless pal was robbed next door.

They bravely gave chase but the gang escaped on bikes with a haul of cash.

Craig Meredith, three housemates and three friends had just returned home after playing a late-night game of five-a-side football when the hooded gang crept into their terraced house in Ordnance Road, Southampton.

Craig, 21, was coming down the stairs when he saw five hooded youths in his dining room rummaging through his friend's bag.

Cricket bats Assuming they were friends of a housemate he went to check. But the gang followed him brandishing cricket bats they had picked up in the house. When challenged and told to get out the youths started to demand cash.

A scuffle broke out and one of the youths pulled out a four-inch bladed knife and told the housemates to back off.

Craig and a couple of his stunned friends, who had been quietly watching TV, managed to barricade themselves into a downstairs bedroom and call the police while the youths were battering at the door.

The gang then burst in on fellow housemate Sam Keites, 21 a fishmonger, who was lying on his bed in a next door room.

"I heard the pushing and thuds against the walls but thought it was just my housemates mucking around," he said.

"All of a sudden the lights went on and three of them charged into my room.

"They started to empty all my drawers, throwing my clothes around and grabbed all my money. I was threatened by one of them with a cricket bat.

"All they kept saying was: Where's the dosh, you must have some more somewhere'.

"I was in shock and just froze because I couldn't believe what was happening."

The youths stole his wallet, mobile phone and several hundred pounds.

Craig, a healthcare support worker, told how he gave chase to the youths as they fled through the front door and made their getaway on bikes.

He lost them after they went through a subway under The Avenue.

"It was really scary," he said. "But now I am more angry than anything at the fact they had the nerve to do it.

"My housemate was really shaken up."

The youths, all in their late teens or early 20s and wearing hooded tops, are believed to have scaled five garden walls up to 7ft high to get into the back of the house.

They let themselves in through an unlocked conservatory door.

Appealing for witnesses to the incident, which happened on Tuesday at about 11.15pm, DC Heather Engley said: "This type of crime does not happen very often but when it does we take it very seriously. We are determined to find those responsible."

Anyone with information should contact Shirley CID on 0845 045 4545, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.