Gang of thieves who attacked a Greek lorry driver with pick axes found guilty of conspiracy to rob

Jun 17 2010 by Fionnuala Bourke, Birmingham Mail

A GANG of thieves who attacked a Greek lorry driver with pick-axes while stealing from his wagon face jail after being found guilty of conspiracy to rob.

The gang’s ‘commander-in-chief’ Dean Skidmore died after terrified trucker Vasilios Nikolapoulos lashed out at the crooks with a folding knife and slashed him in the groin.

Spencer Howell, 35, of Bassett Road, Wednesbury, and a teenager, who was 15 at the time, and cannot be named, were also stabbed in the fight, at 6am on February 26 last year.

But they made it to Sandwell Hospital in time for treatment. They admitted conspiring to steal from lorry drivers along with the fourth gang member, Danny Lee Wright, 19, of Biddings Lane, Bilston.

But the surviving trio denied conspiring to rob charges. They were found guilty of the more serious charge at Warwick Crown Court yesterday. The jury rejected the defendants’ claims that it was the driver who had got out of his cab first and attacked them on Station Road industrial estate, Coleshill.

During the trial Mr Vasilios told the court the gang beat him and demanded his keys as he desperately tried to get away.

“I took out a small knife I have with me for peeling fruit and to cut bread or to cut sausage,” he said. “One managed to get his arm round my neck from the back and held me.

“The knife struck a point to the upper thigh of the person.

“I managed to get free from his grip and I ran as fast as I could calling out ‘help’ in English and ‘voithia’ in Greek.”

Judge Marten Coates ordered pre-sentence reports on White and the younger teenager, now aged 17.

But not on Howell, who has a long list of previous convictions for dishonesty. All three were remanded in custody.

The Judge added: “A custodial sentence, I would have thought, was inevitable.”