VW Golf driver mowed down drug users on Wakefield residential street before bloody machete attack

Adam Pidcock was given an extended 16-year jail sentence this week for the cold-blooded crimes, which were thought be drug related.

The 49-year-old was found guilty after a trial at Leeds Crown Court of two counts of attempted GBH, dangerous driving, wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon. A 17-year-old boy, who was a passenger in the car also found guilty of wounding with intent and possession of an offensive weapon. He cannot be named due to his age.

The court heard that the victims had been walking along Townley Street on Wakefield’s Lupset estate in the early hours of December 23 last year when the VW Golf went by. They flagged it down thinking it was a drug dealer.

Driver Pidcock then stopped, reversed at speed and knocked the woman down while catching the man with a “glancing blow”. Two people got out armed with the weapons and began to attack the man, slashing and stabbing at him.

When the victims pleaded with them and asked why they were doing it, the teenage boy callously replied: “Because we can, innit.”

The female victim suffered extensive bruising, with the male suffering knife wounds to his leg, thigh, back and buttocks. Although no explanations were ever given, prosecutor Michael Smith said the attacks were “probably drug related”.

One of the knives used was later recovered from the younger defendant’s address.

Mitigating for Pidcock, Zareen Alam-Cheetham said he was “ultimately the maker of his own misfortune” and added: “He is under no illusion that the sentence imposed will be one of significant length.”

She said he had worked most of his life but at the time was “trying to manage” an amphetamine addiction and was also taking heroin and crack cocaine “daily”.

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Pidcock, of Radcliffe Road, Wakefield, has nine previous convictions for 13 offences, including violence and drugs.

For the teenager, Rupert Doswell KC said he was only 16 at the time but said he “accepts he must be jointly responsible” for the attack. He has no previous convictions.

Judge Neil Clark said the attack was a joint enterprise, so gave Pidcock the extended sentence, made up of 11 years’ custodial period with a five-year extended licence. He was also banned from driving for 88 months.

The teenage defendant was given a nine-year jail term, made up of four years’ custody, and a five-year licence period.