'Sadistic Brutal Violence'
Three armed robbers have been jailed for life for kidnapping victims and subjecting them to "sadistic and brutal violence".
For months they went around the streets of London armed with guns, knives and baseball bats, beating and robbing motorists and pedestrians.
London's Wood Green Crown Court heard how they treated their victims like nothing more than "characters in an arcade game" and their taunts made it clear that homophobia and racial hatred occasionally played a part in selecting victims.
The victims were beaten and threatened with further violence if they didn't hand over their PIN numbers.
One man, who was too frightened to remember his number, had his arm stamped on until it broke.
In the dock were Jamaican Robert Lincoln, 18, from Barking, Essex, Rwandan Sofian Majera, 22, from nearby Dagenham, and Portuguese national Peter Frota, 19, also from Barking.
Frota's older brother Louis, 22, a former amateur footballer for Stansted FC and one-time trialist for professional side Dagenham & Redbridge, got four-and-a-half years for his much lesser role.
They variously admitted 17 offences of robbery, one of assault with intent to rob and two counts of handling stolen goods between August 31 and December 14 last year.
All four, who have a total of 36 previous convictions between them, now face deportation.
Skynews
