The victim’s teenage sister raised the alarm, leading to the arrest of all three at the scene. The man says the attack has left him “constantly so frightened, paranoid and completely petrified”.
Three men have been jailed for breaking into a man’s home in Bristol and threatening him in a failed attempt to steal cryptocurrency. Terroll Paul, 31, Mohamed Samagassi, 37, and Pierre Madzou, 30, forced their way in during the early hours of 15 May and assaulted the victim. They were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday 15 October after pleading guilty to aggravated burglary. The victim was hit over the head and needed hospital treatment.
The sentences
Paul, of Barking in London, was jailed for six years. Madzou, also of Barking, received five and a half years. Samagassi, who has no fixed address, was sentenced to five years. The men demanded that the victim hand over a large amount of cryptocurrency, but did not get it.
All three were arrested at the scene after the victim’s teenage sister managed to alert police. They were later charged with aggravated burglary and each pleaded guilty at a hearing at Bristol Crown Court in August. Court listings show the case was before His Honour Judge Picton on 22 June and Her Honour Judge Anna Richardson on 10 August. Judge Richardson is listed for the sentencing hearing at 2pm in Court 10. The listings do not record the evidence or the judge’s remarks.
The victim’s statement
In a personal statement read to the court, the victim said the incident was still affecting him. “I am constantly so frightened, paranoid and completely petrified,” he said. “This incident has had a significant impact on me and has turned me into a completely different person; I say and do things out of character. Before, I was bubbly, talkative and outgoing but now I would describe myself as tense and apprehensive.”
Police praise for the sister
PC Gemma Childs, the investigating officer, said: “This incident has had a devastating and long-lasting effect on the victim, who states that his life now looks completely different to what it did prior.”
She added: “The victim has fully co-operated with police throughout the investigation, and has demonstrated outstanding resilience and bravery.”
She also praised his younger sister. “The victim’s younger sister has also shown extreme bravery, with her actions leading directly to the apprehension of the offenders and preventing her brother from further harm,” she said. “This is something that no one should have to go through in their lives, especially not a child, and her quick thinking in this situation is nothing short of remarkable.”
A recognised type of crime
The attack fits a pattern sometimes called a cryptocurrency “wrench attack”. Unlike online fraud or hacking, offenders use violence, intimidation or threats in person to make someone hand over digital assets. These offences can involve aggravated burglary, robbery or kidnapping.
A study by the Metropolitan Police and the blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs recorded 17 violent cryptocurrency-related attacks in London over nine months. The average loss in cryptocurrency was about £660,000 per attack. Kidnapping accounted for 59% of the offences, aggravated burglary for 35% and robbery for 6%. About 94% of victims were men, aged between 17 and 58. Offenders sometimes also took valuables such as luxury watches, with average losses of about £143,000. The researchers said such attacks were probably under-reported. They also found groups operating across county boundaries and, in at least one case, internationally. There is no evidence linking the three Bristol offenders to those groups.
The same research looked at publicly documented incidents worldwide and found a sharp rise between 2023 and 2025. The research notes put the figure at about 18 in 2023 and about 70 in 2025. These are incidents identified through open-source research, not a full count of global crime.
Police powers
Legislation introduced in April 2024 gave UK police and other authorised investigators wider powers to seize and freeze suspected criminal cryptocurrency assets, including wallet freezing orders. Avon and Somerset Police announced on 27 August 2026 its largest such seizure since those powers began, worth £1,032,487.86. The assets included 20.21 Bitcoin and money in a bank account, and were traced to darknet marketplaces operating between 2016 and 2019. They were forfeited under the Proceeds of Crime Act. That case is unrelated to the Bristol attack.
Several details of the Bristol case have not been made public, including how much cryptocurrency was demanded, how the men knew or believed the victim had it, and whether they knew him. It is also unclear what caused his head injury.
