'Sadistic' armed gang terrorised Londoners

Three armed robbers have been jailed for life for a reign of "sadistic and brutal violence" that left victims convinced they would die.

They spent months cruising London at night with guns, knives and baseball bats, kidnapping motorists and pedestrians and beating them almost senseless as if they were nothing more than "characters in an arcade game."

As blood poured from their wounds they were stripped of their valuables and warned of further suffering unless they handed over their pin numbers.

Threats ranged from being shot and having their throats slit to their eyes being gouged and being burnt alive.

London's Wood Green Crown Court heard one man, so paralysed by fear he could not tell his attackers what they wanted to know, had his arm stamped on until it broke.

Another, suffering a similar memory lapse was repeatedly tortured with a cigarette lighter.

Francis Sheridan, prosecuting, said taunts and threats to some of those attacked - a number of whom were of Asian origin - "made it clear" homophobia and racial hatred occasionally played a part in selecting victims.

In the dock were Jamaican Robert Lincoln, 18, from Barking, Essex; Rwandan Sofian Majera, 22, from nearby Dagenham; and Portuguese national Pedro Frota, 19, also from Barking.

Also before the court was the only gang member to escape a life sentence. Frota's older brother Louis, 22, a former amateur footballer for Stansted FC and one-time trialist for professional side Dagenham & Redbridge, was given four-and-a-half years for his much lesser role.

They variously admitted 17 offences of robbery, one of assault with intent to rob and two counts of handling stolen goods between August 31 and December 14 last year. All four, who have a total of 36 previous convictions between them, now face deportation.

Copyright Press Association 2006.