Former pop singer and reality television star Kerry Katona has been held hostage after a gang of armed robbers broke into her home in Cheshire.
Katona's husband Mark Croft and their five-month-old baby daughter Heidi were also in the house at the time of the raid.
The burglars, armed with a sledgehammer, a crowbar and a large knife, reportedly locked Katona and her youngest daughter in a room downstairs and forced Croft to help them find valuable items in the house.
A spokesperson for Cheshire police said that the family were "extremely alarmed" but were not physically hurt in the incident.
It is believed that the gang broke into the house just before midnight last night and made their escape about half an hour later, with various items from the house including televisions, computers and jewellery.
The robbers also took the family's BMW M5 sports car, which the couple had only bought a few weeks ago.
Katona's publicist Max Clifford said that the star was in a "terrible state" after the ordeal.
"When I spoke to her this morning she was in floods of tears and absolutely distraught."
"It was a terrifying experience. Luckily they weren't hurt, but Kerry was held at knifepoint and the robbers threatened to kill them," Clifford said.
Clifford also confirmed that Katona's other two daughters, Molly and Lily-Sue, from her marriage to singer Brian McFadden, were not in the house at the time of the robbery.
