Birmingham snooker hall kidnappers jailed after sawn off shotgun threat

Four men have been jailed for more than 35 years after kidnapping and robbing a teenager in Birmingham.

Their 17-year-old victim was outside a snooker hall in the city centre when he was bundled into a VW Golf on the evening Friday, September 2, 2022. Nickyle Harris, Daejon Byfield, Panashe Mahachi and Danreiko Henry were inside the car where they assaulted him and threatened him with a sawn-off shotgun and a samurai sword.

The four convicts drove their victim around Tividale and Dudley Port as they sent demands for cash to contacts in his phone. The men forced the youngster to hand over £350 cash and transfer money out of his bank account, as well as stealing his phone and trainers, before leaving him near Dudley and Sandwell train station.

Investigators traced the Golf they’d used to Byfield and on September 15 it was located in Leicestershire where it had been bought by a completely innocent party the day before. Banking checks revealed that Mahachi was linked to the account the victim’s money had been transferred to.

Forensic analysis of phone data also linked Harris and Henry to the other two men while ANPR mapped the Golf in the same locations as all the men’s phones on the day of the kidnap.

The individual sentences handed to the four Birmingham kidnappers

• Nickyle Harris, aged 20, of Oldbury, was jailed for 10 years for kidnap, robbery, possessing an offensive weapon and having a firearm with intent.
• Daejon Byfield, aged 20, of Birmingham city, was jailed for 10 years for kidnap, robbery, possessing an offensive weapon and having a firearm with intent. Byfield further admitted possessing cannabis with intent to supply.
• Panashe Mahachi, aged 20, of Oldbury was jailed for nine years and six months for kidnap, robbery, possessing an offensive weapon and having a firearm with intent.
• Danreiko Henry, aged 19, of Oldbury, was jailed for eight years and six months for kidnap, robbery, possessing an offensive weapon and having a firearm with intent.

‘One of the most serious kidnap cases in Birmingham’

Det Sgt Matt Dyer from West Midlands Police Major Crime Team, said: "This was a co-ordinated and calculated operation to use violence and threats to extract cash from a 17-year-old. During the sentencing the judge commented that this was one of the most serious kidnap cases they’d dealt with in Birmingham. These men found it acceptable to put a teenager in fear for his life, but such actions are not acceptable and have resulted in significant jail sentences."