Murder bid three jailed

Three men who led a vicious attack on a disabled Hednesford man which left him with horrific injuries and in a coma have been jailed.

Craig Robins, aged 28, was repeatedly punched, kicked, stabbed nine times in the head, neck and eye and had a stone thrown in his face before being left for dead.

He was set upon in his Vauxhall Astra outside a house in Lomax Road, Hednesford, as he searched for people who slashed its tyres and smashed a window.

Mr Robins, of Green Heath Road, arranged to speak to the Express & Star to appeal for information about the damage but was attacked the night before.He apparently was looking for the area's notorious WS12 gang - responsible for a number of violent crimes in the town - and ended up outside a house in Lomax Road where the defendants were at a party.

He suffered irreparable brain damage and still needs round-the-clock care at his parents' home in Highfield Road, Great Barr. At Nottingham Crown Court yesterday, Gavin Brown, 22, of Hillside Close, Hednesford, was jailed for 12 years after admitting attempted murder.

After admitting violent disorder James Milligan, 27, of Moss Road, Cannock, was jailed for three years and Kyle Smith, 19, of Rowley Close, Hednesford, was sentenced to two years and three months. A 16-year-old boy from Cannock, who cannot be named, also admitted violent disorder and got an 18-month supervision order.

Mr Robins was paralysed from the chest down by a car accident nine years before the attack.

In a statement, parents Linda and Clive Robins said: "He had good friends and an active social life. This has been taken away through a mindless act of violence. "

By Michelle Pearson