Man ‘walked into a trap’ and feared for his life in terrifying gang attack in Nottingham alleyway

The victim was lured ‘off the beaten track’ and was stabbed and beaten by a gang of kickboxing robbers

A robbery gang lured their victim into an alleyway, stabbed him, stole his £11,000 Rolex watch and £6,000 in cash.

A trial at Nottingham Crown Court was told how the victim arranged to meet sellers in The Meadows who he had agreed to buy some goods from, but in reality, did not exist.

But when he arrived, he was bundled down the alleyway, punched, threatened with the blade, stabbed in the arm and had his items taken.

And in a victim impact statement the man who was attacked said he “thought he would lose his life” during the “terrible and terrifying” incident.

Jailing them for a total of 40 years, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said: “All of you were involved in the commission of the planned robbery.

“You (ringleader Ionel Radu) had been scouring the country for people to cheat for some time, selling empty boxes to people claiming they contained goods that did not exist.

“You spoke to a man in Nottingham and talked the others into travelling up here in a car on false number plates.

“You told so many lies during the trial you lied yourself into a standstill by the end of the evidence.

“The four men who committed the robbery in the physical sense set off for Nottingham looking for a suitable place to commit the robbery and the base they chose was off the beaten track in The Meadows, close to a road where they could get away quickly.

“They came to Nottingham knowing perfectly well what was going to happen.

“Radu, you told the victim your 16-year-old son would sell him the goods and (co-defendant) George Chirita, being the youngest, willingly played the part of your son, flagged him down got into his van, asked him if he had the money and was shown the money from inside the victim’s inside pocket.

“Unarmed and alone, the victim walked into the trap.

“Three of you, two of you kickboxers, were no doubt hired as the muscle and he was set upon, knocked to the ground having been stabbed to the arm.

“While he was on the ground, he was slashed to the back and that attack persisted and would have continued had his friend not come, shouted and caused it to stop.

“That’s the only reason the violence stopped and, by the time it stopped, £7,000 and his £11,000 Rolex watch was taken and he was left a shell of the man he had previously been.”

The trial heard how the victim was attacked in Hope Close at around 4.45pm on February 27.

Richard Thatcher, prosecuting, said: “While Mr (Ionel) Radu may have been the organiser, there is little distinction between the others and their roles.

“The victim was commanded to come to the scene alone and had a large amount of cash and a truly expensive watch stolen from him.”

After hearing all of the evidence the jury found George Chirita, Costel Ilie, Ionel Radu and Ionut Stoica and Mihai Melu guilty of conspiracy to rob.

Mr Thatcher read out parts of two impact statements made by the victim.

In them he said: “This has had an enormous impact on me, I have relived the events every day.

“Prior to this vicious attack I was confident and outgoing and now I don’t want to leave the house.

“It was a vicious attack and I cannot understand why they needed to be so violent on a man who was alone when I offered no threat to them.

“It was a terrible and terrifying experience and I thought I would lose my life.”

Chirita, 20, of Lymington Road, Dagenham, Essex, fled from the UK before the trial, played no part in proceedings and was sentenced in absence this week to seven years in prison

Maeve Thornton, mitigating, said her client came to the UK at the age of 14 and has a mother who “works as a cleaner in the London area”.

Ilie, 37, of South Street, Romford, Essex, a construction worker father-of-two, has no previous convictions having been in the UK since 2009.

The judge jailed him for eight years.

Radu, 49, of Armstrong Close, Dagenham, Essex, has previous jail terms in his home country of Romania for forgery and “aggravated larceny (theft)” and served a six-month sentence when he lived in Ireland for handling stolen goods.

He was put behind bars for 10 years.

Sarah Phelan, his barrister, said: “He is a married man with six children and he will be deported on the completion of his sentence.”

Stoica, a 31-year-old father-of-three, of Central Park Road, East Ham, London, “continues to deny his involvement in this offending”, his barrister told the hearing.

The judge handed him an eight-year sentence.

And Melu, a 23-year-old churchgoer, of Rectory Road, Manor Park, Londo,n also has no previous convictions here in the UK or Romania and runs two construction businesses with his brother.

He was sent to prison for seven years.