Express & Star

Trio of friends threatened with 'shooter' in violent Black Country car-jacking

"I am a hard worker and did not deserve this" - the words of one of the victims of a violent car-jacking that saw three friends subjected to a night of terror.

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Jamie Waterfield and Christopher Taylor were jailed for nine-and-a-half and six years respectively for the crime spree.

Waterfield, 24, and Taylor, 21, spotted the three friends, who are all in their 20s, while they ate in McDonalds, Bilston, and then tailed them. They hijacked a Corsa the trio were getting into at around 1am on November 29.

Miss Lisa Hancox, prosecuting at Wolverhampton Crown Court, said the victims were warned that the robbers 'had a shooter' and were driven to Wednesbury where one was dragged from the car, had something he believed was a gun pressed into his back and forced to withdraw £300 from a cash machine.

They were then all taken to an industrial estate in nearby Great Western Street where they were forced to lie on the ground and robbed of mobiles phones, cash, cigarettes and other possessions. Taylor and Waterfield then burned out the £1,500 Corsa.

Finally, the terrified trio were frogmarched down a nearby canal towpath while being slapped and racially abused by their tormentors who then used one of the stolen phones to call a taxi in which they left the scene.

The total value of cash and property either stolen or damaged during the ordeal was valued at up to £3,000.

The victims raised the alarm at a nearby factory.

The owner of the gutted Corsa later told detectives: "I am a hard worker and did not deserve this. I was just passing the time of day with two colleagues after a hard day's work when it all happened."

The culprits, both of no fixed address, were not tracked down and charged until March.

Their arrests came after Waterfield had hijacked another car on December 4 – this time as the 35-year-old owner opened his Ford Focus outside a shop in New Road, Willenhall, which he later crashed while being pursued by police.

Father-of-two Taylor later confessed: "I am feeling bad about what I did. I am ashamed. Nobody deserves what they went through."

He and Waterfield, who has 16 previous convictions involving 41 separate offences, both admitted three robberies and the arson attack on the Corsa.

Waterfield further admitted robbery and dangerous driving in relation to the second offence and was jailed for a total of nine and-a-half years while Taylor was locked up for six years.

Judge Nicholas Webb told them: "These were nasty offences that left deep psychological scars on some of the victims. The circumstances were truly frightening with their ordeal lasting up to two hours. It was a long drawn out affair."

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