Leek Town's Oliver Edwards and pal Adam Wilson jailed after attacking cabbie then setting fire to taxi

TWO men have been jailed for a total of more than eight years after beating up a taxi driver before stealing his cab and setting it on fire.

Former Leek Town FC player Oliver Edwards dragged the 64-year-old driver out of his taxi following a dispute over a fare.

He and his friend Adam Wilson then attacked cabbie Mohammed Sabir, leaving him bleeding at the side of the road.

Yesterday Edwards, aged 23, was jailed for four-and-a-half years, while 24-year-old Wilson was sentenced to four years behind bars.

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Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Mr Sabir had picked up Edwards and Wilson – along with Edwards's then-girlfriend Tiffany Garside – from the Quiet Woman pub in Leek.

They asked to go to a petrol station in Wetley Rocks. Prosecutor David Bennett said: "When they arrived there was some kind of dispute.

"At that stage the three got out of the taxi and Mr Sabir drove away and parked 100 yards up the road.

"The three passengers entered the petrol station and alcohol was purchased. Mr Sabir had contacted his base and was told to stay there because the police had been called.

"While he was waiting he noticed the defendants approaching.

"Edwards opened the driver's door and pulled the complainant out of the taxi. He was attacked by Edwards and Wilson while he was on the ground."

The court heard the pair kicked and stamped on Mr Sabir's head, leaving him with severe swelling and bruising, cuts, and grazing down the side of his body. Edwards – who had taken the drug Mcat – and Garside then got into the Mitsubishi Lancer cab while Wilson drove it away.

Mr Bennett said: "The complainant was left injured by the side of the road in a semi-conscious state.

"The taxi was only driven a short distance. It was abandoned in a country lane then set on fire. The £100 takings had been taken."

The three were identified from CCTV footage taken at the petrol station shortly before the incident, in the early hours of June 6, and arrested later that day.

Edwards and Wilson later pleaded guilty to robbery. Mother-of-one Garside, aged 26, admitted allowing herself to be carried in a vehicle taken without consent.

The court heard Edwards, of Moorfields, Leek, had convictions for unlawful wounding in 2005 and 2008. His barrister Nicholas Tatlow said: "He had a good educational background, had excellent long-term employment prospects, and is a talented sportsman playing football at semi-professional level. He is appalled by what he has done."

Andrew Molloy, for Wilson, of Basford Bridge Lane, Cheddleton, said his client had written a letter of apology Mr Sabir, adding: "He is utterly ashamed."

Sentencing Edwards and Wilson, Judge Robert Trevor-Jones said: "This was a most serious offence.

"You set about Mr Sabir in a brutal fashion, kicking and stamping on his head. You left him bleeding and semi-conscious in the road and effectively hijacked his taxi. You then, quite calculatingly, set fire to it, thinking you would destroy any forensic evidence to link you to the crime."

Garside, of Springfield Close, Leek, was given a 12-month community order with 200 hours' unpaid work.