A BRUTAL robber who beat his victims with a wheelbrace has been given 12 life sentences.

The sentencing of Darren Crossgill, aged 27, of Sidcup Hill Gardens, Sidcup, ended months of terror for local cab firms he preyed on.

Even now, when he is in jail, his victims are too terrified to talk publicly about their ordeals.

Originally charged with 29 robberies, Crossgill pleaded guilty to 12, which took place between July and September last year.

Blackfriars Crown Court heard, before his sentencing on October 30, how Crossgill was feared by cabbies across the area during his reign of terror.

In August last year Crossgill and Leon Walker, aged 27, of Middle Park Avenue, Eltham, went into a food store in Erith and beat the assistant with a wheelbrace before robbing the shop.

The crimes were caught on CCTV and Walker was arrested in January this year after a struggle with police, and jailed for four years in September.

Crossgill’s tactic was to hire a minicab to his destination of choice, where he would assault and threaten the driver before robbing him.

He would then take the car and, using its wheelbrace or a knife as a weapon, rob shops and garages.

In September last year Crossgill beat a minicab driver with a wheelbrace in Windermere Road, Bexleyheath, robbing him and leaving him unconscious with head and facial injuries.

Most of his attacks involved cab firms in the Greenwich borough, but he also beat and robbed a passenger who got off a bus in Sewell Road, Thamesmead, in September last year.

One Sidcup cab driver, Stephen Giles of Avanti Cars in Sidcup, has been taking fares for nine years. He said “I was attacked at knifepoint two years ago and it put me off doing night shifts. I’m glad these two are off the streets, it’s peace of mind for everyone.”