Have-a-go heroes tackle thug armed with hammer to halt 'disgraceful' bus robbery
A prolific offender staged a robbery and a string of thefts on buses during a month long crime spree that only ended when he was confronted and held by two passengers.
Daniel Nicholls struck 13 times while armed with a claw hammer and metal bar and escaped with almost £2,000 from cash boxes on the vehicles.
He was starting a four year four month jail sentence today after being arrested thanks to the bravery of two bus passengers who held him as the driver called 999.
The 35-year-old defendant was desperate to feed his £100-a-day Class A drug habit, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.
He started to break open the cash box with the claw hammer as soon as he boarded the bus and fled with the money seconds later, explained Mr Paul Spratt.
Nicholls pulled off thefts at various locations - some times on several occasions at the same stop.
They included Tennyson Road on The Scotlands Estate; Lichfield Road, Wednesfield; Wolverhampton bus park and Creswell Crescent in Walsall.
The crime wave started on June 7 and ran to July 9 when Nicholls was grabbed by two passengers as he attempted to smash open another cash box on a double decker in Westbrook Lane, Wednesbury.
The have-a-go heroes clung on to him until police, alerted by phone by the driver, reached the scene and arrested the defendant who then told officers of the string of crimes he had committed.
He admitted carrying out two thefts, an attempted theft and a robbery on buses and asked for 10 similar offences to be taken into consideration.
The total amount of money pocketed by him was £1,973 with the largest single take being £500. He was also forced to flee empty handed on couple of occasions, the court heard.
Mr Rashad Mohammed, defending, said: "The spree of offending was driven by the need to fund his £100-a-day Class A drug habit but he has been held in custody since his arrest in July. Since then he has broken the habit and is now off drugs."
Nicholls from South View Close, Featherstone, who had previous convictions involving 76 offences, was sent to prison by Judge Dean Kershaw to told him:
"You have a dreadful criminal record and this was a disgraceful course of conduct. But your sole purpose was to get the money rather than frighten the driver and passengers.
"However it was most unlikely that people would challenge somebody holding a claw hammer which was the case until you were detained by two passengers.
"The amounts of money stolen by you may not seem large but the cost of those crimes was huge with buses having to be taken off the road to be repaired."
