Merseyside gang who 'tortured' taxi boss have jail sentences reduced Victim was punched, kicked stabbed and covered in bleach
Four Merseyside thugs jailed after a taxi firm boss was ‘tortured’ and his pet dog stabbed have had their sentences slashed by top judges on appeal.
John Tuffy, 28, Daniel James Jones, 26, and Mark Allan Platt, 30, and a fourth man were driven from Merseyside to Willerby, near Hull, by 30-year-old Jamie Hayes.
They targeted the home of Hull Cars owner, Chris Davidson, Lord Justice Davis told London’s Appeal Court today.
They were acting on ‘inside information’, believing Mr Davidson had £50,000 in a safe inside the house, which was not true.
Hayes acted as lookout while the other men donned balaclavas, stormed the home and armed themselves with knives from the kitchen.
When Feisty the French bulldog started barking, Mr Davidson’s lodger, Neil Collingham, went downstairs to investigate and was grabbed.
The raiders threatened him with knives and savagely kicked him about the head.
Mr Davidson was confronted, grabbed, punched and kicked when he came out of his bedroom.
The thugs demanded to know where his safe was before events ‘escalated to extreme violence’.
The knifes were used in a ‘vicious way’ in order to ‘terrorise’ the victims into revealing where the safe was.
Both Mr Collingham’s ears were slashed and Feisty was stabbed during the terrifying ordeal which lasted one hour and 20 minutes.
Mr Davidson was told, ‘let me make this absolutely f***ing clear to you, we are going to cut you mate’s ears off if you don’t tell us where the safe is’.
He was also threatened with the words, ‘I am going to cut you dogs f***ing head off and the pair of you are going to die’.
The cab firm owner was stabbed through his ear into the side of his head and in the leg, severing his Achilles tendon. An attempt was also made to cut off his little finger.
Bleach was poured on the kitchen floor before he was pushed into it and further attempts were made to cut off both Mr Collingham’s ears.
Threats were made that Mr Davidson’s mum, who has dementia, would be killed if he contacted police.
His £7,000 Rolex watch, two rings, mobile phones and cash were stolen, as well as his Range Rover.
Both victims were tied-up and gagged while the men headed back to Merseyside in the stolen vehicle with Hayes driving the other car.
Mr Davidson managed to call the police who located the Range Rover travelling on the M62.
Officers pursued the car for several miles as it hit speeds of 150mph before colliding head-on with a police vehicle.
The ordeal had a ‘severe’ impact on the two victims. Mr Davidson, who ‘thought he was going to die’, needed surgery to repair his leg.
His lodger’s left ear was ‘almost completely detached’ and he needed specialist plastic surgery.
Tuffy, of Haresfinch Road, St Helens, had 26 previous convictions for 65 crimes.
Jones, of Maryville Road, Prescot, had 32 appearances before the courts for 54 offences.
Hayes, of Hartley Grove, West Park, St Helens, had 23 previous convictions for 25 crimes, while Platt, of Belvedere Avenue, Sutton Leach, St Helens, had 14 for 17 offences.
All were sentenced at Hull Crown Court on November 16 last year.
Tuffy, Jones and Platt admitted aggravated burglary and two counts of wounding with intent and got 22 years behind bars each.
Hayes admitted aggravated burglary and received a 13-year term.
The judge who jailed them said it was ‘one of the worse examples of this sort of crime I have ever encountered’ and they deserved ‘punishment of a very high order’
However, lawyers for the men argued on appeal that their jail terms were far too tough.
Lord Justice Davis said the Crown Court judge was ‘entitled to look at this matter in such a severe way as he did’.
The judge, who was sitting with Mr Justice Gilbart and Judge David Radford, said they did not wish to ‘diminish the severity which ought to attach to offending of this nature’.
“People who behave like this must expect to be very firmly and severely punished by the court”, he added.
But, ‘with some reluctance’, the judge ruled that all four men’s sentences were too long.
Lord Justice Davis reduced Tuffy, Jones and Platt’s jail terms from 22 to 19 years. Hayes had his sentence cut from 13 to 11 years.
He said that, by allowing the appeals, he ‘in no way wished to discourage judges from taking a stern view of offending of this kind’.
source:
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liv ... i-11216898
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