Pizza delivery man ambushed by machete-wielding pair

Stuart Clarkson, 44, and David Foskett, 41, lay in wait for the driver after ordering a pizza on September 8 last year.

Since the attack the driver
has been too terrified to return to work and says he no longer feels safe working at night.

Both men pleaded guilty to robbery and possession of a bladed article and appeared at Preston Crown Court to be sentenced.

The court heard the driver arrived at the address in Ashbourne Drive, Lancaster, shortly before midnight, to make a delivery.

But Foskett and Clarkson had made a plan to rob him.

One of the men had a pink bladed knife, the other was armed with a machete.

When the driver arrived with their order, the men threatened him with the weapons in a bid to steal his cash belt.

But unknown to Clarkson and Foskett, the driver’s partner and five-year-old child were waiting in the vehicle and witnessed the terrifying robbery.

Preston Crown Court heard the attack continued in the car with one of the men reaching through the window and punching the driver.

The other tried to grab the steering wheel as the driver put his foot on the accelerator and reversed away from the robbers.

Recorder Tania Griffiths QC, sentencing, said: “This was an extremely serious, sustained and frightening incident, involving bladed weapons used to threaten.

“This must have been a terrifying attack. The victim says he was petrified. Knives were wielded, he was punched and he was attacked in the car.

“He had to drive off.

“There was very significant planning - there was a phone call, laying in wait and prepared with weapons. It was a night-time attack.”

The court heard Clarkson, of Clarendon Road, Lancaster, has a “dreadful” criminal record including offences of theft, robbery and possessing weapons.

Foskett, of Ruskin Road, Morecambe, has a history of burglary but the judge said the offence in September was “a significant departure from his usual criminality.”

She jailed Clarkson for 64 months and Foskett for 54 months.