Three jailed for knife robberies on Birmingham students

Crime reporter(wp/bbc):::

A man and two teenagers have been jailed for using knives and a meat cleaver during a "shocking" set of robberies on students.

Iosif Filipache, 19, and a 15 and 16-year-old stole phones, cash and bank cards in Birmingham in a three-day spree last November.

One victim suffered a brain haemorrhage and needed surgery, police said.

Filipache was jailed for 17 years while the two others were given 11 and six years at a young offenders institute.

A 24-year-old man suffered a brain injury and needed life-saving surgery after being punched and kicked on a canal towpath near the city's Arena Birmingham, West Midlands Police said.

The trio also threatened two Aston University students with a meat cleaver in a Lancaster Circus underpass and held a knife to a man's leg in Perry Barr.

Further students were threatened with the cleaver and a café owner also suffered facial injuries.

The teenagers struck five times until they were caught.

Filipache, of Normandy Road, Aston, admitted five counts of robbery, two counts of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place and wounding causing grievous bodily harm with intent. He was jailed for 17 years after a hearing at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday.

The two other teenagers, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted the robbery charges.

A 16-year-old was jailed for 11 years and another boy, aged 15, was sentenced to six years at youth offender institutes.

Det Con Lucy Mooney said it was "a shocking series of attacks."

"Shocking in their severity and the use of weapons - indeed one victim nearly lost his life - but also given the age of the offenders," she said.