Accomplice in delivery driver robbery jailed
Northumbria PoliceA man has been jailed for his part in a robbery, which left the victim with life-changing brain injuries when he was run over with his own van.
Michael Gill and Gary Rarity, both 43, targeted a Yodel driver on his round in Sunderland shortly before Christmas, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The victim, who was in his 50s and suffered a head injury, which resulted in part of his skull needing to be removed, previously said his life had been "taken away".
Rarity, of Brick Garth, was jailed for seven months and given a two-year and 10-week driving ban after admitting conspiring to commit theft, driving whilst disqualified, and driving with no insurance.
Gill, of Cairo Street in Sunderland, was jailed for three years and seven months earlier this month after admitting theft and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Prosecutor Vincent Ward said the pair were in a car which was following the driver's van on 16 December and decided to steal it while he was making a delivery on Stannington Gardens.
Gill climbed into the driver's seat and drove it away at speed, the court heard, and as the driver tried to stop him he was run over.
As passers-by tried to help the stricken and unconscious man, Gill and Rarity went to another street where they and others unloaded the van, Ward said, with 157 parcels stolen.
The victim, who said he can no longer work and has lost all his independence, said in a statement read to the court: "I no longer feel I am living; I am simply existing."
