"He was our rock..." - Emotional tributes to businessman and dad-of-three who suffered fatal heart attack after catching professional criminals targeting his premises

A 'professional' gang of criminals have been jailed for more than 40 years after a businessman suffered a fatal heart attack when he caught them breaking into his premises. Peter Cordwell's devastated family described him as their 'rock', as four men were locked up following the burglary at his site in Collop Gate Farm, Heywood.

The sophisticated thieves were targeting a storage container within the site, which is owned by the Cordwell family and housed a variety of businesses. One container stored illegal cigarettes worth more than £800,000. Mr Cordwell, a father-of-three, rushed to the site after being called by his teenage son Peter Jnr, who had been alerted that trespassers had broken in.

After arriving in his Toyota Land Cruiser, his son and another man called Harvey Ferris, who was living on the site as a security guard, got into Mr Cordwell's car and planned to block the intruders in until police arrived. But soon after, members of the gang launched a terrifying attack on the Toyota with the three men inside.

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The windscreen was smashed with a hammer or axe, and others armed with weapons including a baseball bat also attacked the vehicle. Mr Cordwell desperately fled and drove onto Manchester Road.

But within seconds, Mr Cordwell, who had 'severe heart issues', slumped in the driver's seat and his son had to grab the steering wheel to stop them from crashing. He had suffered a heart attack, and was later pronounced dead in hospital.

A pathologist said that the 'physiological stress imparted by the incident had interacted with Mr Cordwell Senior's pre-existing natural disease to precipitate his sudden death'.