Carjackers Jordan Hartley and Frank Simpson jailed at Bradford Crown Court

Jordan Hartley and Frank Simpson threatened to shoot their first victim and then pointed an imitation firearm at a young mother while attempting to steal a car with her baby son in the back.

The pair, who have previous convictions for robbery and were on prison licence, were sentenced at Bradford Crown Court this morning by Judge Neil Davey QC who labelled them both dangerous offenders.

The court heard the men first struck shortly after midnight on December 1 when off-duty police officer Alison Wilkinson was walking from the kiosk at Denbrook Services, Tong Street, Bradford, to her Ford Fiesta.

Prosecutor Syam Soni said the defendants appeared from bushes wearing balaclavas and one demanded: “Give me your car keys you b*tch or I will shoot you.”

Mrs Wilkinson bravely held on to the keys but let them go when the men threatened to stab her.

They drove off in her £6,000 car, with her handbag in the back.

Hartley, 27, of Denbrook Close, Tong, and Simpson, 36, of Carr House Road, Halifax, next targeted Emma Taylor at 9.20 that morning as she walked from the recycle bins at Sainsbury’s supermarket in Wade Street, Halifax.

Miss Taylor had the keys to her VW car in her hand and her son aged nine months was in the back of the vehicle, the court heard.

One of the defendants threatened her with a black BB gun and demanded the car keys.

Miss Taylor suffered an injury to her hand as she struggled to hang on to them, screaming to the robbers that her baby was in the vehicle.

Eventually, the keys were wrested from her and the men fled in Mrs Wilkinson’s stolen Ford Fiesta.

Mr Soni told the court that the VW was accidentally locked during the struggle and Miss Taylor’s screams and shouts alerted people nearby who called the police. Officers had to smash a car window to rescue her baby trapped inside.

The defendants were arrested in Queensbury at 9.45am that morning after a pursuit involving the police helicopter.

The balaclavas and BB gun were recovered from the Ford Fiesta.

Simpson made no comment in his police interview and Hartley denied the offences.

Both men pleaded guilty on December 23 to the two robberies and to possession of an imitation firearm.

Hartley had 36 previous convictions for 57 offences, including a robbery in 2014. He was imprisoned for three years for that offence and was on licence at the time of the carjacking.

Simpson had 35 convictions for 59 offences, including robberies in 1995 and 2003. He was on licence for an offence of house burglary.

Mrs Wilkinson gave the police a statement saying the robbery had “a profound effect” on herself and her family.

She was targeted as a lone and vulnerable female late at night.

She was now worried about going out in the dark and had suffered sleepless nights. She had dreamt of guns, although she did not see one during the robbery.

The men were lying in wait that night and she no longer parked near bushes.

The robbery left her at first feeling shock and disbelief and then anger.

“All of this has had a long lasting effect on me and family through no fault of my own,” she said.

In her statement, Miss Taylor said: “The thing that strikes me is that this could happen in a supermarket car park on a busy day at around 9.20am. This shocked me. I feel I was a target because I was on my own and a female.”

She continued: “My maternal instinct to protect my son meant that they would have had to seriously harm or disable me to get away with my car with him in it.”

Although Miss Taylor still went to the supermarket, she said her blood ran cold when she was in that area of the car park.

“I was shouting: ‘I’ve got a baby’ and still he threatened me with the gun,” she recalled.

Barrister Ken Green, for Simpson, said: “He is not trying to minimise his wickedness or draw back from his involvement.”

He was very remorseful and wanted to apologise to both women.

 “He has a kind, understanding and supportive side and is the father of children of his own,” Mr Green said.

Simpson had suffered a serious motorcycle accident as a young man that had left him disabled with a limp. He turned to drugs and alcohol to alleviate the pain.

Nick Askins, for Hartley, praised the women as “robust individuals who will not let the offences mar their lives over the long term.”

Hartley had been working hard on licence but then began drinking heavily and taking cocaine.

He was very remorseful and had never before served a lengthy prison sentence.

Judge Davey told the men: “Each of you has a much better side, a much kinder side.”

But the fact that they needed to commit criminal offences to buy drugs and alcohol meant they were at significant risk of causing serious harm in the future.

Both men were locked up for five years for possession of the imitation firearm, with seven years consecutively for the robberies.

Detective Inspector Gary Stephenson of Calderdale CID said: "Both victims in this case were lone females. During the first incident in the early hours of the morning, the victim was threatened and though she did not see a gun, the offenders threatened to shoot her.

"In the second incident, in broad daylight, the victim was in a supermarket carpark with her nine-month old son in the rear of the vehicle. Again the offenders threatened her with a gun and made demands for her car keys.

"It clearly does not bear thinking about the outcome, but for the intervention by members of the public.

"Both incidents can only be described as horrific and carried out by two men who lack any common decency or respect. Hopefully the victims in this case can move on with their lives, whilst Hartley and Simpson come to terms with a lengthy time in jail."

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