Shropshire Star

Pictured: Pair who robbed Go-Carz driver and Chinese takeaway in Telford

These are the faces of the two men jailed for 15 years between them for robbing a taxi driver and the attempted robbery of a Chinese takeaway where they terrorised workers.

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West Mercia Police have released the images of Kieran Joyce and his sidekick Lee O'Brien.

It also emerged today that staff at the takeaway they targeted were so traumatised that many have left their job, forcing the business to reduce its opening hours.

Ex-army trainee Joyce, 30, robbed a Go-Carz taxi driver in Telford after grabbing him by the throat during an altercation about the man's name.

In a separate incident Joyce also took part in an attempted robbery of the Golden Gate takeaway in Madeley, along with O'Brien, 24, where the staff were threatened with violence.

After fleeing empty-handed the pair then stole a laptop in an unrelated crime carried out on the same night.

Their criminal activities ground to a halt after the pair were jailed for a combined total of seven-and-a-half years each at Shrewsbury Crown Court last month.

The taxi driver was robbed in June 2015, forced to hand over about £50 after being placed in an armlock and grabbed by the throat.

Joyce, originally of Wolverhampton, was eventually arrested and bailed.

Then in April this year the defendants, who had previous convictions, met for drinks in various pubs before making their way to the Golden Gate Chinese takeaway in Queen Street, Madeley, which had shut for the night.

They went to the kitchen at the rear and demanded money from the frightened workers, overturning a unit and brandishing a knife and a broom, but the pair, realising they had bungled the robbery, fled empty-handed after the staff called 999.

A further robbery took place in the early hours at a house, in Shawfield Close, Sutton Hill, where O'Brien "bullied" a tenant into letting him use his laptop which he then took and sold for £300 at goods exchange store Cex.

Both men, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty.

They initially denied the offences before changing to guilty pleas ahead of a trial.

For the taxi robbery Joyce was jailed for three years and six months, and for the attempted robbery at the takeaway he was jailed for four years to be served consecutively. O'Brien was jailed for a total of seven-and-a-half years for attempted robbery, robbery and possession of a bladed article.

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