Trio jailed after violent attacks on city binmen

Group were armed with a gun, axe and a sledgehammer

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A JUDGE described the terrifying ambush of two bin wagons in Stoke-on-Trent as like something out of a TV crime drama as he jailed three of the yobs responsible.

Judge Graeme Smith slammed the tooled-up thugs who launched the horrific assaults on the council workers and their lorries in Birches Head.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Joe Corden saw red after being involved in a road rage incident with a wagon. The 29-year-old recruited Jack Spackman, aged 25, and Kyle Worthington, aged 21, and they went to target the binmen in a revenge attack. However, they found the wrong lorry and subjected three council workers to a violent assault using an axe, a sledgehammer, baton and firearm.

Now Corden has been jailed for six years and eight months, Spackman for five-and-a-half years, minus 200 days spent on curfew, and Worthington to six years.

Jailing the trio, Judge Smith told them: “The footage was shocking, something you expect to see on a TV crime drama, not on the streets of Stoke-on-Trent. The incident was relatively short-lived but was intense and involved the use of an axe, sledgehammer, baton and firearm.

“A number of defendants wore face coverings. There was significant planning and premeditation. Corden clearly had the lead role. All of the operatives were targeted. Attempts were made to get at them until they were able to escape. It was a revenge attack by Corden and others were aware of that. The victims were people providing a public service.

“The ongoing industrial dispute in Birmingham shows just how important the refuse collection service is. The refuse collectors may be taken for granted but they expect to do their work without being subjected to serious, unprovoked violence?”