Man who robbed victim of car at knifepoint jailed

A man who arranged to test drive a victim’s car before stealing it at knife point has been jailed for numerous offences.

Tyler Cooper, 20, formerly of Ramsthorn Close, Swindon, appeared at Swindon Crown Court after pleading guilty to robbery, dangerous driving, driving without insurance, driving without a licence and two counts of possession of a bladed article.

He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment and disqualified from driving for 32 months.

On 19 May, Cooper arranged to test drive the victim’s car, a black Audi A3, which had been posted for sale in Chippenham.

While on the test drive, Cooper produced a machete and robbed the victim – a man in his 20s – of the vehicle and his phone. The victim did not suffer any serious injuries.

At around 4.40am on 29 May, the victim’s vehicle – now with false plates – was spotted by officers in Swindon.

It immediately failed to stop for police, leading to a pursuit before the vehicle was lost to sight.

A few minutes later, officers received a 999 call reporting that the vehicle had crashed. Officers carried out area searches and spotted a suspicious person – now known to be Cooper – nearby in a housing estate.

Cooper ran on sight of the unmarked police vehicle, and a foot pursuit ensued. Cooper was subsequently caught hiding behind cars and arrested.

A machete which he had been carrying was found a short distance away.

Following enquiries, he was linked to the robbery of the vehicle in Chippenham and charged with multiple offences. He was then remanded into custody.

PC Ben Agate, from Wiltshire Police's Specialist Ops department, said: “This job is an excellent example of Specialist Ops and CID working together to identify, locate and safely arrest this dangerous offender.

“Cooper’s actions were absolutely awful – he clearly planned to rob the victim of his vehicle and then attempted to disguise what he had done by changing to false plates.

“I’m pleased he has pleaded guilty to all offences and will now serve time behind bars.

“We will continue to target dangerous and violent individuals like Cooper who commit crime in Wiltshire.”