LONDON, May 29, 2009 (AFP) - French-born fashion designer Nicole Farhi was strangled to the point of blacking out during a robbery outside her London home, a court heard.

Nicole Farhi - Photo: AFP/File/Leon Neal

Fahri was also threatened with a knife during the attack, but the robbers were traced after her playwright husband David Hare chased them and took down their car registration number.

Two brothers, Matthew and Daniel Mykoo, stole cash, a ring and a Rolex watch after attacking Farhi from behind in the driveway of her home in Hampstead, north London, in April 2008, Wood Green Crown Court heard Thursday 28 May.

Daniel Mykoo put his arm around her throat and squeezed so hard that she blacked out for a number of minutes, while his brother wielded a knife, prosecutors said.

The brothers had carried out a string of similar 16 "strangler-robber" attacks on wealthy people, mostly lone women, according to prosecutor John Carmichael.

"Again and again you can see the same pattern. Daniel Mykoo attacks the woman from behind, puts his arm around their neck and pulls, as it were strangling them.

"They were obviously disabled, frightened but unable to resist."

In one previous attack, a month before the Farhi robbery, the female victim had told how she feared she was going to die, said Carmichael.

"She was really distressed. She thought she was going to be murdered or sexually assaulted because of the violence of the attack," he said.

The trial continued Friday 29 May.