Three jailed over Bristol crypto home invasion foiled by teen

Three men who forced their way into a home in Bristol, England, and attacked a man to make him hand over a large amount of cryptocurrency have been jailed. Terroll Paul, 31, Mohamed Samagassi, 37, and Pierre Madzou, 30, broke in during the early hours of May 15, police said, as reported by Decrypt. The victim was hit over the head and needed hospital treatment for a substantial injury.

How it ended

The victim's teenage sister alerted police, and all three men were arrested at the scene. They pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary in August and were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday, Oct. 15:

• Terroll Paul, of Barking, London: six years.
• Pierre Madzou, also of Barking: five and a half years.
• Mohamed Samagassi, of no fixed address: five years.

Investigating officer PC Gemma Childs praised the sister's "extreme bravery," saying her actions led directly to the arrests and stopped further harm to her brother. Police did not say how much crypto the men demanded.

Our take

This is what a "wrench attack" looks like: criminals skip the hacking and go after the person who holds the keys. Blockchain security firm CertiK counted $124 million in wrench-attack losses worldwide in the first half of 2026, twelve times the year before. The UK has had a run of them, from a $4.3 million London robbery that put three teenagers in jail in February to a West Midlands couple attacked at home last month. Canada has seen similar cases, such as the Toronto kidnapping of an exchange owner.

The uncomfortable lesson is that good digital security does not stop someone at your door. A hardware wallet protects your coins from malware, not from a threat in your living room. What helps most is not being a visible target: don't talk about holdings in public or online, keep large balances away from wallets you can open on the spot, and consider set-ups that need more than one key or a time delay. Our guide on how to store crypto safely covers those options. In this case, though, it was a quick-thinking sister and a fast police response that made the difference.