Men threatened parents in front of their children and tried to stab woman in head with screwdriver

The four men attacked couples and families with weapons including knives, pool cues, baseball bats and a screwdriver, threatening to stab their targets if they refused to meet their demands.

Bradford Crown Court heard that the “appalling” incidents, which took place across the district in November last year and in January, had left the victims suffering “long-term catastrophic effects”.

Timothy Tordoff, 26, Wayne Coleman, 25, and Yasser Nasser, 26, were all sentenced yesterday after being found guilty of robbery following a trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Tordoff and Coleman, both of Mary Street, Laisterdyke, were convicted of eight and two offences respectively, with Nasser, of Broadstone Way, Holme Wood, also found guilty on two charges.

Dean Coleman, 47, of Tyersal Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to four offences of robbery prior to the trial.

Prosecutor Christopher Dunn told the court that the first two robberies, which involved Tordoff, Nasser and Wayne Coleman, had taken place on November 19 last year.

In the first, a masked gang targeted the home of the Dockrat family on Thorncliffe Road, Batley, hitting Ebrahim Dockrat with a fire poker while making threats against his wife and family unless they handed over jewellery and cash.

Mr Dunn said the men then told Mr Dockrat they would “cut his fingers and private parts” off if he did not tell them where the gold was.

Both his daughters witnessed the attack, with one being hit over the head by Nasser with a piece of wood.

The men stole the family’s Audi A6, said to be worth around £30,000 from the property.

In the second robbery later that night, the men struck Jahangir Ahmed with a metal bar at his address in Park Grove, Frizinghall, taking cash and a charity box his 12-year-old son was using to collect money for those in need.

Mr Dunn said six further robberies then took place on the nights of January 4 and 5 this year, all of which involved Tordoff.

The first occurred at Woodlands Crescent in Gomersal, where a silver VW Golf GTi was taken from a driveway after its 42-year-old owner was threatened at knifepoint.

Around two hours later, Stephen Metcalfe was awoken by a man standing beside his bed with a screwdriver at his home in Tyersal Park, Bradford, saying: “Tell me where the car keys and money are, or I’ll stab you.”

He was repeatedly punched to the face, body, and ribs while the men stole a Vauxhall Insignia, the keys to a Mercedes van, a necklace, iPhones, £500 in cash, and some WWII RAF medals.

Later that night, the gang targeted Darren and Frances Glover at their home in Bolton Drive, Eccleshill, shouting at Mr Glover: “Give me the keys or I’ll stab you and your wife.”

The family’s Mercedes A200 was taken from the driveway, with Mrs Glover “rendered completely hysterical” as the couple’s ten-year-old son watched the robbers leave.

Mr Dunn said that on January 5, four men wearing balaclavas armed with pool cues entered a house in Lumb Bottom, Drighlington, where a female occupant was breast-feeding her five-day-old baby.

The men demanded money, gold, and the keys to an Audi A4, with Tordoff also making a sexual comment towards the woman.

Mr Dunn said the baby’s parents had suffered “a terrifying ordeal at a time when they should have been enjoying their home with their new addition”.

In Langley Lane, Shipley, the men then broke into the house of Mark and Lucy Henzell, again armed with pool cues, which Tordoff tried to use to remove a towel she was wearing, having just got out of the bath.

The pair had to plead with the gang not to go into their one-year-old daughter’s bedroom, before they left with a pillowcase full of jewellery and the family’s Audi Q7.

In the last robbery, in Rooks Close, Wyke, the men punched an elderly man and forced him to remove the keys to a Mercedes E250 from a safe, while Tordoff punched his 67-year-old wife before trying to stab her in the face with a screwdriver, only narrowly missing and piercing a hole in the couple’s sofa.

The gang took property worth “upwards of £200,000” from the house, causing “untold suffering” to the couple.

Summing up the offences, Mr Dunn labelled them a “sophisticated home invasion robbery spree, with very significant violence both used and threatened”.

Judge Jonathan Rose said the men had undoubtedly identified the houses they wanted to attack, targeting people at night when they were “most vulnerable and susceptible to fear”.

He condemned the “ruthless brutality” of the offences, which had left “lasting psychological effects”.

“In every case, you were prepared to use, and did use, violence,” he said.

“When violence was used, you were indiscriminate.

“Each of you willingly chose to embark on such brutal offences.”

Jailing Tordoff for 20 years, with a four-year extended licence, he told him: “You have clearly become a determined and highly dangerous young man.”

Nasser was jailed for 16 years and six months, with Wayne Coleman ordered to serve 15 years.

Dean Coleman was given a sentence of 13 years and eight months, with a four-year extended licence.

Tordoff, who is already serving 32 months in prison for robbing a taxi driver after trying to strangle him with a seatbelt, was also sentenced for dangerous driving following a police chase in and around Queensbury, and the theft of three laptops from a car parked at the Bronte Parsonage in Haworth, both in August last year.

Dean Coleman’s sentence also included charges of theft from a motor vehicle and two burglary offences, committed on December 30 in Springville Terrace, Idle, and Carr Bottom Road, Greengates.

Nasser had pleaded guilty to an additional charge of supplying Class C drugs, after being caught supplying growth hormone tablets to Tordoff while in the dock during the trial.

Following the sentences, police said they were appealing for information to trace “hundreds of thousands of pounds” in stolen jewellery still missing following the robberies.

The items include a 3.7ct marquise shaped diamond ring and an 18ct white gold and diamond flower design bracelet.

Detective Superintendent Gary Hooks, who led the investigation into the robberies, said: “We would firstly like to thank all the victims for their support of what has been a complex investigation, and I hope that yesterday’s sentences will give them some comfort.

“These significant sentences send a very clear message to those involved in such criminality that they will be harshly punished by the court.

“We are now appealing for the public’s help to trace the stolen items, so we can return them to their rightful owners.

“Some of these pieces are of great sentimental value and we would urge anyone who may have been approached by someone selling these items, or who may have seen them being sold, to contact us.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact DC 5013 Jones at Bradford District CID on 101, quoting crime reference 13160006184, or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.