It was 10.30pm and Mustapha Charkaui and his wife Krystina were relaxing during the last few hours of the day.

Doors locked, windows shut, the Aylesbury couple would have felt completely safe.

But just minutes later Mr and Mrs Charkaui lay bleeding on the upstairs carpet with head injuries so serious only one of them would survive.

Every householders’ nightmare had just come true.

Two men had smashed their way through the rear patio windows of the house using a spade from the shed in the back garden.

After hearing the burglars breaking in, Mrs Charkaui had run upstairs to get help from her husband but was struck across the forehead with the spade before she could reach him.

Upstairs in his own house with nowhere to run, Mr Charkaui was then knocked unconscious by a blow to the back of the head.

Mustapha Charkaui could never have imagined the spade he had used to lovingly tend to his garden would end up being the weapon used to murder him.

Like thousands of homeowners across Aylesbury Vale, Mustapha and Krystina thought they would always be safe inside their own four walls.

But now Mrs Charkaui is too scared to return to the house in Dunsham Lane.

The physical scars to her face will heal over time but the mental scars of the fatal attack on her husband will stay with Krystina Charkaui forever.

Even now, the exact intentions of the two men who broke into the Charkaui home are unclear as police said they were keeping an open mind about the reasons for the attack.

Initially, burglary was the assumed motive for the attack, but DCI Karen Trego, who is leading the murder investigation said nothing appeared to be missing from the Dunsham Lane address.

Some local residents feel the attack is a symptom of a rising amount of crime in the area linked to a growing drugs culture.

Raj Shah, postmaster at the Londis Shop in Dunsham Lane, said: “People are very sad and upset, especially the elderly who are frightened to go out of their own homes now. People are in shock that this could happen on Dunsham Lane. It is one of the worst things to happen in the area.

Mr Shah said that, in the past few weeks his mother had been mugged and said that his shop had been broken into four times in the last 12 months.

He said: “Before this year, my shop was broken into four times in the last ten years. I feel the drug culture has increased in the area and in Elmhurst crime has increased a lot in the last few years.”

The murder is likely to be an issue in the forthcoming district council elections.

Raj Khan, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Elmhurst, said: “I am horrified this could happen near to the back of my house. It is outrageous and worrying.

“This is not just a crime against a family but a crime against the people of Aylesbury,” he added.

Abdul Khaliq, Conservative candidate, said: “I condemn this murder. It is a shocking incident.