Girl, 8, watched on in horror as grandma was attacked with knife before being kidnapped on Christmas Day

An eight-year-old schoolgirl watched on in horror as her grandmother was viciously attacked in her own home by her nephew before being kidnapped, a court heard.

The woman had her ear cut open and was seriously injured when the car she was bundled into crashed and flipped over.

Gary Groves, 55, one of two masked men to storm into the woman's home, has now become the third person to be jailed over the terrifying incident.

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On Christmas Day 2019, a woman called Sarah Howitt knocked at the door of a house in Kirkby, Merseyside, and pretended to need help. Groves and the victim's nephew Geoffrey Hayes forced their way into the property and searched for valuable items, the Liverpool Echo reports.

While in the property, a woman was assaulted and later forced her into her own car - an Audi TT – before it was driven away by Hayes.

The car crashed shortly afterwards in the nearby village of Melling leaving the woman seriously hurt. Groves was handed 14 years behind bars by a judge at Liverpool Crown Court. He follows his two accomplices, who were sentenced three years ago.

At Hayes' sentencing, Liverpool Crown Court heard that the victim, 69, was his aunt. She was slashed and battered by her nephew as her eight-year-old granddaughter looked on in horror.

Hayes was armed with a foot long knife when he and his girlfriend Howitt, and Groves stormed the OAP's house. He sliced open his aunt's left ear then kidnapped the pensioner in her Audi before crashing the car as he tried to escape.The victim and granddaughter were watching the Christmas episode of Coronation Street at her home in Cleveland Close. The victim answered a knock at the door