Gang forced man to get into boot of car before robbing him

Mason Powers, of Mudberry Court, Stoneclough, along with Zayn Hamid, Zeyn Badat and James Greaves ordered a young man into the boot of a blue Suzuki Swift at around 9.30am on August 11 last year after seeing him walking down a street in Bury.

Bolton Crown Court heard Hamid used a knife to force the victim into the boot before Badat drove the group to the Halo monument in Haslingden.

Prosecutor Philip Boyd told the court the victim was tied up with his own shoelaces and forced into the boot where a large “zombie knife” had also been placed.

After arriving in Haslingden, the man was ordered to have a one-on-one fight with a member of the group. He was then kicked and punched by all four defendants. 

The victim was then taken back to Bury where he was ordered to take off his clothes. 

The group also demanded that he pay them £120, which was later delivered by the victim's friend, the court heard.

The money was collected by a fifth person, a teenager, aged 16 who cannot be named for legal reasons, on behalf of the older members of the group.

The victim was then released after being detained for around two-and-a-half hours. He was told if he went to the police that his family would be harmed.

Following arrest, all five of the group pleaded guilty to robbery while Hamid also pleaded guilty to affray.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the victim said he had been left “scared to leave my home".

“I felt degraded by what happened to me,” he added.

Andrea Lock, defending Badat, described the 21-year-old as “someone who follows the crowd".

She said: “He tells me he is remorseful, he does accept his part in this, he accepts he was part and parcel of a group.”

She added that Badat had been making “stellar progress” with the requirements of an earlier court order but had “fallen back into his old ways".

Ms Lock, who also represented Powers, 19, said he has expressed “genuine remorse” over the incident.

She added that Powers is “a silly young man but he is someone who is capable of rehabilitation, they are still young adults".

Mason Powers (Image: Greater Manchester Police)

The court heard that Greaves, 22, from Bury, assisted in collecting the money from the victim’s friend along with the 16-year-old boy.

Ellen Shaw, defending, said Greaves had been diagnosed with ADHD aged 13 and said the incident was “wholly out of character for him".

She added: “He’s effectively ruined his life by the events and is terrified of going to custody.”

Gemma Maxwell, who represented Hamid, 19, had expressed genuine remorse, and had no previous convictions.

Zayn Hamid (Image: Greater Manchester Police)

The court also heard that the 16-year-old boy had only become involved with the incident after the group had returned the victim to Bury.

He had been involved to a “far lesser extent" and had not taken part in the assault.

Shirley Duckworth, who defended the teenager, said he had been assessed to be a victim of modern slavery and was “susceptible to peer pressure".

She added that he had been diagnosed with both autism and ADHD but was looking to complete his GCSEs.

Judge Jon Close described the incident as an act of “calculated and prolonged cruelty".

In his concluding remarks, he said “there is a pattern of violent offending in the group,” adding that he did not accept their expressions of remorse had been genuine.

Addressing the 16-year-old boy, he said “the role you played was equivalent to cannon fodder, you were the one at risk of detection".

He sentenced Badat, of Central Road, Partington, to seven years and six months in prison, which included the activation of a previous suspended sentence. A custody picture of Badat was not available.

Powers, of Mudberry Court, Stoneclough, was sentenced to seven years in a young offenders institution.

Hamid, of Park Road, Oldham, was sentenced to five years and two months in a young offenders institution.

The 16-year-old boy was given a youth rehabilitation order.

Greaves, of Grassington Court, Bury, was sentenced separately on Friday and an article about that hearing will be published on our sister website, the Bury Times, on Thursday.