A series of kidnappers who subjected their victims to terrifying ordeals across the West Midlands have been brought to justice in a string of court cases.
City Centre Gang Targets Teenager
Four men have been jailed for a total of more than 35 years after a shocking kidnapping and robbery in Birmingham city centre. The victim, a 17-year-old, was snatched from outside a snooker hall on the evening of Friday, September 2, 2022, and forced into a Volkswagen Golf.
Nickyle Harris, Daejon Byfield, Panashe Mahachi, and Danreiko Henry then attacked the teenager, threatening him with a sawn-off shotgun and a samurai sword. They drove him around the Tividale and Dudley Port areas while sending demands for cash to contacts in his phone.
The victim was coerced into handing over £350 in cash and transferring money from his bank account. His phone and trainers were also stolen before he was dumped near Dudley and Sandwell train station.
An investigation traced the car to Byfield and located it in Leicestershire by September 15. Banking checks linked Mahachi to the account where the victim's money was transferred, while phone data and ANPR evidence connected all four men to the crime.
Harris and Byfield, both aged 20, were jailed for ten years. Mahachi, 20, received nine years and six months, and Henry, 19, was sentenced to eight years and six months.
Honeytrap Plot and Sexual Assault
In another disturbing case, a group who kidnapped and battered a so-called friend in a honeytrap plot were described as 'animals' by a judge. The attack on charity worker Anthony Cooper lasted for more than four hours and was orchestrated over a £150 debt and disapproval of his relationship.
The group used Shannon Wolleter as bait to lure Mr Cooper before dragging him from the street. On Tuesday, July 8, at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Dean Kershaw sentenced all four to immediate imprisonment.
Daniel Aston, 33, was jailed for five years and eight months. Shannon Wolleter, 30, received two years and ten months. Steven Baker, 61, and his son Matthew Baker, 29, were both imprisoned for three years and nine months. A fifth man, David Bambrough, 41, received a suspended sentence for his involvement.
Elsewhere, sexual predator Mustafa Hakim was found guilty of kidnapping a woman, strangling her, and raping her in woodland in Selly Oak on July 28, 2022. The 30-year-old carried his screaming victim to bushes near the Bourne Brook Walkway. Following a trial, he was convicted of kidnap, strangulation, rape, assault by penetration, and theft. Hakim was jailed for a minimum of 13 years.
Debt-Related Abductions and Sentencing
A trio of men were also jailed for a brutal kidnapping related to an alleged debt. The victim, a man in his 40s, was bundled into a Seat Leon car on November 25, 2023, and driven to a banqueting suite in Smethwick.
There, he was stripped naked, burnt with cigarettes, and beaten with a metal pole. The men, Mohammed Jamil, 39, Mohammed Saadh, 23, and Idris Ahmed, 28, all pleaded guilty to kidnap at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, July 26 last year.
Jamil and Saadh were each jailed for five years and three months, while Ahmed was sentenced to four years and six months.
These cases highlight the serious and violent nature of kidnapping offences pursued by West Midlands Police, resulting in significant prison terms for the perpetrators.
