Wolverhampton councillor dragged from Mercedes in violent carjacking
A crowbar-wielding hooded thug hurled a city councillor to the ground and threatened her during a vicious carjacking in front of her home.
Councillor Sandra Samuels OBE was dragged out of her £42,000 E300 Mercedes-Benz AMG and thrown onto her driveway in Needwood Close, Goldthorn Park, Wolverhampton, during the incident on Saturday evening.
The 60-year-old says the terrifying incident has left her devastated and afraid to leave the house.
She says police suspect the car – which has not been recovered – was stolen to order. No arrests have been made.
It comes amid police warnings of a surge in violent carjackings across the West Midlands, as criminal gangs target high performance cars, often for spare parts which are sold on for insurance write-offs.
Ettingshall councillor Mrs Samuels, who was first elected to Wolverhampton Council in 2004 and is the authority’s cabinet member for adults, says she pulled up on her drive on returning home from a shopping trip to Wolverhampton.
She turned the engine off, opened the door and started to get out of the car.
Dragged
Mrs Samuels said: “All I could see was this hooded person by the door. He shouted ‘get out of the car and give me the f****** keys’.
“I froze. He dragged me by my right arm and I went down on the floor. I tried to get up and run and shouted for help.
“He pushed me over and straddled me while I was lying on the ground. I looked up and he was holding a crowbar in the air above my head.”
Mrs Samuels, a retired senior theatre sister at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, says the man threatened her with the weapon and she started to scream.
“I couldn’t move. My knees just buckled and a felt paralysed,” she added.
The thug grabbed the keys out of her hands and got into her car, Mrs Samuels said.
While he was attempting to start the engine a neighbour appeared on the scene and shouted at him to leave her alone, before helping Mrs Samuels to her feet.
Eventually the man, who Mrs Samuels believes was assisted by two accomplices in another car parked nearby, drove away at speed.
The gang made off with Mrs Samuels’ handbag, which had been in the footwell of the car, and two mobile phones, among other items that were in the car.
Disappeared
She says police managed to trace the car for a short time using GPS.
It appeared in Lea Road in Merridale and Duke Street, Wednesfield, before going off the map.
One of the phones was later recovered in a street.
“The police have said the car may have been stolen to order and could be in a shipping container halfway to who knows where by now,” Mrs Samuels said.
“I haven’t come out of the house since it happened. I’m so nervous. I keep getting flashbacks
“I’ve had the locks changed but every time I hear a noise I jump out of my skin.
“The doorbell rang the next day and when I went to answer it there was nobody there. All I could see was two delivery vans parked down the street.
“You just don’t know if they had come back to empty the house, thinking I wouldn’t be there.”
Warning
Mrs Samuels says she wants her ordeal to act as a warning to others.
“I just hope to God they catch them,” she said.
“We've had the car for 12 months and it can be replaced, but the mental scars will last. I want to warn others to be extremely vigilant.”
West Midlands Police spokeswoman Kate Baker said the force had launched an investigation into the incident.
“A man, armed with a crowbar, approached a woman who had parked her black Mercedes outside her home and demanded her keys before pushing her to the ground and grabbing them from her,” she said.
“He then drove off in her car. Although shaken, the victim was thankfully unharmed.
“An investigation is underway and anyone with information should get in touch with us via Live Chat at west-midlands.police.uk between 8am and midnight, call 101 any time, or ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 quoting crime reference number 20WV/268008C/18.”
Vehicle crime
The West Midlands has seen a spate of carjackings in recent months, with five violent incidents reported in just one week in October.
The force this month revealed it is getting an average of one report a day of so-called 'chop shops' operating around the region.
A total of 631 vehicles – worth £1.6 million – have been recovered from the illegal workshops that break up cars to sell stolen parts online, while nearly 300 suspects have been arrested.
Police say they fear a spiralling demand for car parts is fuelling a rise in vehicle crime, including car key burglaries and violent carjackings.
In September officers discovered chop shops in Minerva Lane, Wolverhampton, and Oak Lane, Kingswinford.
