A man who masterminded a violent robbery in Leeds where rare Porsche parts were stolen has been jailed after being tracked down by tenacious detective work over a four-year international manhunt.
Wahseem Fazal tried to cheat justice by fleeing the country after he was charged over the armed robbery at a specialist car repair business in Water Lane, Holbeck, in September 2015.
Operation Axleford, a Leeds District CID investigation, led to five other people being jailed for a total of 55 years in 2019 for their roles in the conspiracy.
Relentless enquiries by the officer in the case, Detective Sergeant Ailis Coates, eventually led to Fazal being extradited back to the UK from Greece in 2022.
At the time of the robbery, the business owner, a specialist in high-value sports cars, had been repairing a red Porsche Carrera GT, then valued between £600,000 and £800,000.
Fazal, who he had previously done work for, had taken ownership of some parts for the car in settlement of a debt owed by the previous owner of the vehicle.
Fazal and another man, later identified as Owen Walcott, had visited the premises earlier that month to arrange to sell those parts to the car’s existing owner.
The offer was declined but during their time at the garage they became aware of where the other Porsche parts were being stored out of view at the business.
Shortly after 3:30pm on Saturday 26 September 2015, two other men visited the workshop and asked about the cost of a car repair.
They returned to a white van parked nearby, which was seen on CCTV driving back and forth waiting for the area to clear of other people.
The van then reversed up to the roller door of the unit and the two men entered and confronted the victim.
One aimed a revolver at his head and threatened him demanding “the red parts”.
The victim was pushed back onto an office chair and his hands bound with cable ties.
While the two robbers returned to the workshop the victim tried to escape but was threatened with being shot and was grabbed and forced back into the office.
He was pistol whipped about the head causing injuries and was struck with a machete causing a deep laceration to his left side.
When the victim was hit with the gun, what appeared to be bullets fell from the weapon onto the floor.
He was gagged and blindfolded with duct tape and taped to a chair.
The pair then loaded the Porsche Carrera GT parts, worth £140,000, into the van and left the scene.
The victim managed to free himself from the chair and raise the alarm with a member of staff at a neighbouring business who contacted the police and ambulance. He needed stitches to the wound to his side and other treatment for the injuries to his head.
Enquiries by detectives showed the white transit van shown on CCTV had distinctive marks on the roof.
The vehicle, which was later recovered in Manchester, was found to have been on false plates at the time of the offence. It was picked up by cameras on the M62 westbound after the robbery, bearing its correct registration.
It was circulated on police systems and was stopped some days later and found to be a hire vehicle being driven by people unconnected to the incident.
Further enquiries showed the van had been hired on the day of the robbery by Owen Walcott.
An expert in vehicle identification confirmed that it was the same vehicle as shown on the CCTV from the scene of the robbery.
Checks with the van hire firm identified Walcott who had initially turned down a more identifiable sign-written van and waited for a plain one to become available.
Phone enquiries showed a number linked to Walcott had contacted a Porsche garage in Manchester just days after the robbery.
The caller had asked for prices for numerous Porsche Carrera GT parts and the dealership was able to provide officers with a full list of those due to the type of car being relatively unique. This matched the list of items stolen in the robbery.
Further enquiries linked Walcott and Fazal to the offence along with Walcott’s brother Harry Mahoney. They were arrested in December 2015 on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery.
Additional work by detectives linked three others, including Mark Davies and Kai Kennedy, who were identified as the two who had carried out the robbery. Incriminating text messages were discovered on their phones discussing the offence. They were arrested in September 2016.
All six were charged to appear at Leeds Magistrates in November 2018 but Walcott and Fazal failed to attend court and went on the run.
Protracted enquiries located Walcott in Bulgaria and he was detained by the Bulgarian authorities in March 2019 and extradited back to the UK.
Painstaking work to locate Fazal showed he had left the UK by Eurostar in November 2016 and had been with Walcott in Bulgaria in 2017 before moving around between Tunisia, Greece and Tenerife.
The manhunt faced delays during the Covid pandemic but was reinvigorated in summer 2022 with information suggesting Fazal was in Athens.
DS Coates liaised with the Greek authorities through Interpol and identified an address for him.
He was arrested in Athens and brought back to the UK in October 2022 under a Trade and Co-operation Agreement warrant.
He was due to stand trial in June last year but entered a guilty plea to the offence of conspiracy to commit robbery.
His co-conspirators had previously been sentenced at Leeds Crown Court in 2019.
As we reported, Mark Davies, aged 36, of Pendragon Place, Failsworth, Manchester, was jailed for 13 years for the robbery conspiracy with concurrent terms for Section 20 assault and possession of an imitation firearm; Kai Kennedy, aged 22, Brewster Street, Harpurhey, Manchester, was given 12 years and six months for the conspiracy with concurrent terms for Section 18 assault and possession of an offensive weapon; Harry Mahoney, aged 28, of Moorfield Drive, Hyde, Manchester, was sentenced to ten years and nine months for the conspiracy; and Owen Walcott, aged 42, of Kingsbridge Road, Manchester, was sentenced to 13 years for the conspiracy.
A woman, who has since been released from prison, received a six-year term. The others are continuing to serve their sentences.
Today at Leeds Crown Court, Fazal, now aged 40, from Sheffield, was sentenced to eight years and ten months.
Detective Chief Inspector Phil Jackson, who led the investigation, said:
“Fazal’s imprisonment today finally brings to a successful conclusion an investigation that originally began eight years ago.
“This was a very serious offence during which the victim was put through a terrifying ordeal as part of a carefully planned and orchestrated robbery which was motivated purely by greed.
“This has been a lengthy and challenging investigation where Detective Sergeant Coates, as officer in the case, has continued to demonstrate a commendable amount of tenacity in her relentless pursuit of those involved, most notably Fazal as the main person behind it.
“He tried to evade justice by leaving the country and relocating around Europe and Africa in the hope that he could avoid having to answer for his actions.
“The extensive efforts that eventually paid off and saw him brought back to the UK to face justice should clearly illustrate to wanted offenders that their debt never goes away.”
This post is based on a press release issued by West Yorkshire Police
Photo: Wahseem Fazal
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