Car-jacking pair jailed

8:24am Tuesday 12th August 2008

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TWO men who hijacked a car at an Oxford petrol station and threatened to shoot the driver were jailed for a total of six years.

Abdul Banaras and Haroun Ahmed decided to take the high-specification £14,000 Volkswagen Golf when they saw it pull into the Texaco filling station in Oxford Road, Cowley, in May 2007.

Oxford Crown Court heard Banaras got out of his own Audi, marched up to Terry Murrell and Matthew Shaw, who were in the Golf, and told them he had a gun.

Banaras then got into the Golf's passenger seat and made Mr Shaw get into the Audi, which was being driven by Ahmed.

Mr Murrell was then made to follow the Audi in convoy through Oxford before the two cars stopped at the Welcome Break service station at junction 8A of the M40 to get more fuel.

Amjad Malik, prosecuting, said Mr Murrell, a car salesman from Didcot, managed to raise the alarm when paying for the fuel moments before Banaras fled in the Golf.

Mr Malik said: "Mr Murrell started to cry and said that he had been told by Banaras that he would not be harmed if he co-operated and his friend was still with him and in great danger.

"He described the fear that he had believing guns were in their possession."

Mr Malik said Mr Shaw was thrown out of the Audi in Tetsworth just after midnight and dialled 999.

He told the court the pair did not try to escape earlier because they did not want to leave the Golf, which belonged to Volkswagen Ridgeway where Mr Murrell worked.

He added Banaras, of Boundary Brook Road, East Oxford, and Ahmed, of Mill Lane, Marston, then drove in convoy to Birmingham before getting rid of the car.

Peter Du Feu, defending Banaras, said: "The offence was unplanned. It is, of course, an ugly offence.

"It is a very serious crime. No violence was used. It was threats out of bravado."

He added Banaras suffered from attention deficit hyperactive disorder. He was a devout Muslim.

Peter Coombe, defending Ahmed, said: "He had no idea this was going to happen beforehand but once it happened he fell into line.

"He just got sucked in and of course he knows better now."

The pair each admitted robbery but denied two counts of kidnap, which were ordered to lie on the court file.

Ahmed also admitted driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

Judge Christopher Compston jailed Banaras, 21, who had previous convictions for robbery, for four years and Ahmed, 24, for two years and banned him from driving for two years.

He said: "These two victims must have been very, very frightened indeed. You are both going to prison and you richly deserve it."