Demetri Draco, 32, jumped on the courier in broad daylight earlier this year in Derby, kicking him to the ground before escaping – but police soon caught up with the offender
Shocking dashcam footage shows the moment a thug viciously attacked a DPD delivery driver during his rounds so he could rob his mobile phone.
Demetri Draco, 32, targeted the courier as he delivered to an address in Derby, in June. In the video, he is seen pouncing on the victim in broad daylight before wrestling him to the ground and violently kicking him.
Draco then ran away with the phone before the man, who luckily was not seriously injured, tried to give chase down the street. Derbyshire Police obtained the dashcam footage, and one officer recognised Draco, from Nottingham, as the offender.
He was tracked down and arrested on suspicion of robbery, later pleading guilty to the crime. Bodycam footage shows the moment officers arrested him at the property after he answered the door to ask: “What’s going on?” Draco was jailed for a total of 15 months at Derby Crown Court.
Elsewhere, in a separate incident, a thug stole chips from an Uber Eats rider in June before knocking him to the ground in an unprovoked assault. Christopher Fisher was hit in the head with an improvised weapon, as the delivery driver fought back when the takeaway was swiped from his bag.
The incident unfolded shortly after midnight on April 30 on Pall Mall in Liverpool city centre as the rider, known as Mr Khalequzzaman, was delivering food to customers. He was approached by Fisher, 41, who asked him what was inside the bag and if he had any chips.
The assailant removed the food from the bag and began to walk away. Liverpool Crown Court heard that the worker then attacked his Fisher with an object, said to have been a bike lock or chain, in an effort to retrieve the stolen goods.
It was then that Fisher, out on licence in relation to a 54-month jail term for robbery at the time, hit him back. Desmond Lennon, defending, told the court: “The defendant accepts that he behaved in an unpleasant way towards the complainant.
“The defendant was struck a number of times with a weapon, once quite forcefully to the head, which caused him significant pain. He accepts that his behaviour, initially, was unnecessary and completely unacceptable.”
Fisher admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and theft, with the prosecution having not proceeded with an initial charge of robbery. He was was jailed for three years.
Sentencing, Judge Medland said: “For no good reason, you took it upon yourself to confront the delivery man. You confronted him and undertook what is, rather euphemistically, described as bullying behaviour by detaining the food he was delivering, which was his livelihood.
“Not delivering that would have had a significant impact on him. He did no more than defend himself and his goods. In a final act of contempt, you chucked the food which you had stolen back at him.”