Drugs courier lured man to Leeds street ambush where 'ferocious' knife attackers waited

Jack Gibson was jailed last year for conspiracy to supply Class A drugs, but in 2020 a “drugs-trade” incident saw him accompany the attack victim in a car to Reginald Row in Chapeltown.

The incident was caught on CCTV and played at Leeds Crown Court, which showed the Audi A1 pull up outside the street’s shops just after 6pm on March 22.

Two men were spotted loitering in an alleyway adjacent to where the car stopped, and when Gibson got out of the passenger seat, they both appeared to walk towards the car and began attacking the man in the back seats. Both had knives and such was the ferocity of the attack, one of the blades broke from its handle and was later found by police at the scene.

During the attack, the victim sustained a 5cm laceration to his palm and a puncture wound to his left forearm. He required hospital treatment as a result.

Gibson appeared to standby and watch the attack unfold, which was pointed out on the footage played by prosecutor Harry Crowson. The attack only came to and end when two plain-clothes police officers came upon them and the attackers then tried to flee.

Gibson, aged 22, was arrested and gave a no-comment interview. As study of his mobile phone found that he had made the journey between Lincolnshire and Leeds that day. It was also revealed he was in contact with the other men involved in the attack.

Appearing in court from custody, he admitted a charge of Section 20 GBH for his part in the car attack. The other perpetrators were previously jailed.

The court was told that Gibson had himself been jailed for 44 months in October last year after he was caught moving “a large quantity of drugs” including 1kg of cannabis and 200 grammes of heroin and cocaine.

Mitigating, Syam Soni conceded that Gibson had an “unenviable” criminal record for his age, but said his part in the car attack was not as grave as the other defendants. He added: “He is in a different position, and he expresses his sadness and remorse at what has happened.”

Judge Simon Phillips KC jailed him for 36 months, which will be added on to his existing sentence rather than run concurrently. He told him: “You presented the victim there to be attacked. It was an ambush. You knew there was going to be an attack on him. They both had knives and he was attacked ferociously from both sides of the vehicle.

"You acted in a compliant way and appeared to hold the car still while the blows of the knives were landing.

"You stood by without any reaction whatsoever. There was no attempt to restrain them for their actions. It was in the context of the drugs trade. It was only cut short by the plain-clothes officers.”