Linthwaite dad Damien Parchment jailed for phone robbery and carjacking

Feb 5 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A 27-YEAR-OLD father-of-one has been jailed for a total of three years after a teenager was robbed of his mobile phone and an innocent motorist had his car effectively hijacked.

Although Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that Damien Parchment had been out of trouble since committing the offences in October 2008, Judge Peter Benson decided that a prison term was inevitable.

Parchment, of Manchester Road, Linthwaite, was in company with teenager Sholan James and another unknown man when they approached the 19-year-old complainant and his friends on Newsome Road, Newsome.

When the victim dropped his phone James, now 19, handed it to Parchment who kept it after giving back the SIM card.

At that point an unsuspecting friend of the victim pulled up in his car and Parchment grabbed keys from the ignition through the open driver’s window.

Parchment told the driver that the car was “mine for tonight” and made threats so that the motorist would let his two friends get in the back.

Judge Benson described what followed as “a prolonged piece of wickedness” as Parchment initially directed the car owner to drive them about before eventually getting behind the wheel himself.

At one point Parchment told the terrified driver not to run off or his boys in the back would “have him”.

The court heard how at times Parchment drove the Ford Fiesta onto pavements narrowly missing lamp posts and parked cars.

When the car was stopped again and all four men got out, the driver managed to run away despite further threats from Parchment.

Soon after three men were seen running away from the Fiesta after it had collided with another car causing a hand injury to another innocent driver.