Richard Osborn-Brooks spoke for the first time about how he confronted career criminal Henry Vincent as he tried to rob him and his wife Maureen.

Mr Osborn-Brooks, 78, said Vincent – who was with an accomplice and high on cocaine and heroin – threatened to stab him with a screwdriver.

He told Southwark Coroners Court, south London, how the thug “ran into his knife”.

Coroner Andrew Harris ruled that Vincent, 32, had been killed lawfully.

He said: “Given there is two intruders at night, one with a weapon, the use of moderate force would seem to me to reasonably be proportionate.

“The combination of unpredictab-ility and fear were factors that have to be taken into account considering the proportionality of the force that was used.”

Mr Osborn-Brooks, who gave evidence via video link, told the inquest: “It was not an experience I ever had before nor wish to have again.

“It terrified me. I felt terrified, helpless. I thought if they continue to think we have money in the house they might do something to hurt her so we give it up.”

He described how the drama unfolded at his home in Hither Green last April, adding: “I grabbed that knife out of the knife block and I threatened him with it. He yelled up to his mate, ‘He’s got a knife’.

“His mate had a sharp thing in his hand, afterwards I realised it was a screwdriver. I said, ‘Mine’s bigger than yours’. He said, ‘Come near me and I’ll stab you’. He came toward me with the screwdriver… I just put the knife forward.”

Describing how the horror unfolded after the knock on the door, he said: “Through the patterned frosted glass I could see a white face. I opened it and it turned out to be a masked man wearing a white grey balaclava with eye holes. He pushed the door open, pushed me back, grabbed hold of my right hand and my right arm and pushed me down and away towards the kitchen.

“Mr Vincent rushes forward intending to do me harm and he ran into the knife that I was holding between us.”

“I thought he would look at my knife and see it is bigger than his implement and he would take the opportunity to run out the front door which was open.”

Vincent, of Orpington, Kent, fled but collapsed in the street and died later in hospital.

Yesterday his mother Rose Lee was among family members attending the hearing.

His sister Rosie Vincent told the coroner she had no idea he was planning to burgle Mr Osborn-Brooks’ house.

She added: “My brother was not a violent person. He was a father, he was a son he was a brother. No one deserves to die.”

Pathologist Simon Poole, who carried out the post-mortem, said the toxicology report indicated “a recent use of both cocaine and heroin”.

He added Vincent “may have been experiencing the effects” of the drugs at the time of the raid.

The cause of death was given as an incised wound to the chest.

Mr Osborn-Brooks was initially arrested on suspicion of murder but later released and told by police he would face no further action.

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