Deported robber beat housemate with bar
AN armed robber who was deported from Australia has been jailed for a brutal attack on his ‘‘vulnerable’’ housemate.
Maxwell Edwards, 56, beat his victim with an iron bar and stamped on his throat before stealing the man’s phone, Birmingham Crown Court heard.
He had returned to the UK and was living at a house on Eileen Road in Sparkhill, Birmingham, when he launched the violent attack on March 30 last year.
Edwards punched the 40-yearold victim more than ten times until he passed out and then stamped on his throat as he lay unconscious.
He dumped the victim in a shed before later returning to attack him again, this time with a metal bar.
The man was unconscious in the shed for more than seven hours in total, but eventually woke up and alerted a relative before being taken to hospital.
West Midlands Police launched an investigation and when detectives went to the address on Eileen Road they noticed blood on the drive and the shed door.
Edwards, who was employed as a handyman by the company which owned the house, was arrested at the scene.
While he was in custody police noticed he had an Australian accent, and enquiries showed he had spent more than a decade in prison Down Under for a string of violent armed robberies.
After his release from prison in Australia he was ordered to return to the UK in February 2019. Just months later he ended up living at the address in Sparkhill.
The victim is still affected by his injuries to this day, the court heard.
On January 14, Edwards was jailed for four years and eight months after he pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm.
DC Andrew Snowdon, who led the investigation, said: “This was a horrible, senseless and sustained attack and it’s clear that Edwards is an extremely violent and nasty individual.
“When he was in custody, we knew something wasn’t right and thankfully support from our Antipodean colleagues showed us the full extent of Edwards’s previous offending, which helped us put him back in jail quickly.”