May 29, 2001 9:37: Saliva on a cigarette may be the undoing of a gunman who terrified a woman and her four children during a raid on the home.

Mark Stockdale, aged 25, of Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, is accused of bursting into Audrey Rose's home, in Pleasant View, Erith, and pointing a pistol at her.

The Old Bailey heard an accomplice covered her face with a plastic laundry bag and left her fighting for breath.

But the plucky mum knocked a cigarette out of the gunman's mouth during a struggle as she tried to break free.

Mrs Rose said: "I thought if I could push the cigarette into his face I might be able to burn him and that would give me the opportunity to open the door."

The jury was told there was a one-in-a billion chance the gunman was not Stockdale after experts took DNA samples from saliva on the butt.

Mrs Rose said she saw the gunman walk upstairs and heard her children scream.

She said he reappeared moments later followed by her terrified children, the jury was told.

She was then pushed into the kitchen and told to stay there while the men fled with a school satchel.

Stockdale denies aggravated burglary on June 20 last year. The trial continues.