Bungling drug-taxing gang targeted Leeds family home by mistake

The four men, armed with a hammer and an imitation gun, targeted the home in Gipton and demanded the three youngsters – aged 9, 17 and 18 at the time - hand over the “stash”.

They threatened the confused kids, before realising they had the wrong house and hastily retreating, prosecutor David Hewitt told Leeds Crown Court.

Held on remand, gang member Terry Tosney appeared via video link from HMP Leeds for sentencing after he pleaded guilty to robbery, but only on the day he was due to stand trial.

Held on remand since his arrest in February, he was given five-years-and-four-months’ jail.

The court heard that at around 5pm on February 8, Tosney approached the house dressed in a high-vis jacket and holding a pen and paper.

He was spotted on the property’s doorbell camera and the young occupants assumed he was a delivery driver.

When they opened the door, he told them he was there to fix the roof, before three men dressed in black and wearing masks came running up the drive and burst through into the house.

One of the teenagers was grabbed by the throat and told stay quiet. One brandished the toy gun, another the hammer.

They then began shouting: “Where’s the weed and the money?”

Tosney held his pen to one of the teenagers and said: “Give me the stash or this will go in your throat.”

The gang also threatened to hurt the young girl, before realising they had the wrong house and Tosney ordered them all to leave.

The youngsters then rang their mother who had been out at the time.

The court was told that the young girl had been left suffering recurring nightmares and had to sleep with her mother.

She was fearful of “bad men coming into our house and hurting our family”.

Tosney, of Green Road, Meanwood, has eight previous convictions for 10 offences, including drug possession, causing actual bodily harm and dealing in cocaine.

He served half of a four-year sentence he received in 2016.

Mitigating, Ian Hudson said Tosney is a father-of-one and usually works at a woodyard in York, a job that will be left open for him once he is released.

He claimed he was pressured into taking part in the raid and was fearful of the repercussions if he did not.

He claimed he had no idea the other men had a fake gun and a hammer, and did not know that the young girl’s iPhone had been taken in the robbery.

The judge, Recorder Benjamin Nolan told him that the taking of the phone was “coincidental” in the overall offence and made little difference to his mitigation.

He added: “There was no evidence that this family were in possession of drugs or drug money at all.

"You and your accomplices had made a mistake in picking this house.

"You had a leading role in this, you were the decoy.”

No reference was made to the other members of the gang during the hearing.