Two men who “terrorised” other motorists during a hijacking spree across parts of Northern Ireland are to have their jail sentences more than doubled, the Court of Appeal ruled on Wednesday.
Declan Anthony Collins (36) and Sean Mateer (37) went on a drunken rampage between Newcastle and Belfast, ramming several cars and attacking elderly victims.
Senior judges held that the prison terms originally imposed on the pair were unduly lenient.
Chief Justice Dame Siobhan Keegan said: “They terrorised a range of people going about their daily business.”
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Collins, from Graham Gardens in Lisburn, had his sentence increased from four to nine years.
Mateer, of Helen Street in Crumlin, was told he must now serve eight years instead of three years and two months.
Both men pleaded guilty to involvement in a series of hijackings and attempted hijackings on June 1st, 2019.
Collins also admitted driving dangerously and being behind the wheel while disqualified.
The crime spree began when the defendants left a caravan park in Newcastle, Co Down, in a Volkswagen Golf.
A short time later they abandoned the car and approached an 85-year-old man in a bid to get him to hand over his Peugeot. The pensioner was punched in the face and dragged from his car by the hijackers.
Later, a 71-year old American tourist was attacked during a failed attempt to seize his Skoda.
At around noon in the Carryduff area, a female driver was targeted after the stolen Peugeot rammed into her car. She got out, thinking it had been an accident, but was thrown to the ground before her vehicle was taken.
During further incidents an attempt was made to get into a BMW car before they approached a Skoda Octavia.
One of the defendants was said to have got into a rear seat, put his fingers against the driver’s head and stated: “I have a gun, drive.”
In a final hijacking on the Purdysburn Road, the owner of a Renault Clio was punched and threatened with being shot amid a struggle to take his vehicle.
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Witnesses then reported seeing the stolen car being driven dangerously, with a passenger opening and closing doors while shouting “up the hoods”.
The stolen Clio was later found abandoned and burnt out in the Beechmount Avenue area of Belfast.
Some of the stolen cars were so badly damaged during the deliberate high-speed rammings that they had to be written off.
Earlier this year the trial judge at Belfast Crown Court described it as one of the worst cases of hijacking he had encountered.
Collins and Mateer were told their “appalling morning of crime” could have had catastrophic consequences.
But the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) referred the case back to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that the prison terms, split equally between custody and licence, were too lenient. It was claimed the judge made an error during the sentencing process.
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Granting the PPS appeal, Dame Siobhan held that the judge had strayed outside the appropriate range. “We are firmly of the view that both sentences were unduly lenient,” she said.
In her ruling the Chief Justice also stressed how multiple people had been injured in the hijacking spree, including one victim who sustained a broken wrist.
“Given the very serious nature of this offending, which had a serious impact on the public, it is entirely appropriate and proper for us to substitute the sentences outlined,” she said.
