Two masked robbers lured couple 600 miles to buy a car before ambushing and robbing them of £5,000 at knifepoint

Sajid Hussain, 26, and Shahid Sadik, 24, tricked Michael Irvine and his girlfriend Louise Cogle into travelling from their home in the Shetland Islands, thinking they would be buying a car in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

The couple had travelled by plane and train from their remote home to buy a white Audi Quattro they had seen advertised for sale for £5,995 on Auto Trader.

Sajid Hussain, 26, (left) and Shahid Sadik, 24, (right) were jailed for a total of 16 years for stealing £5,000 from Michael Irvine and his girlfriend Louise Cogle after luring them 600 miles to buy a car

Miss Cogle paid a £500 deposit for the car and they brought a red suitcase with them containing £5,000 in cash.

But when the couple arrived on August 10 last year, they were ambushed by men wearing balaclavas and armed with a gun and a plank of wood.

Prosecutor Simon Haring told Bradford Crown Court Hussain cocked the gun before pointing it at Mr Irvine’s face and shouting: 'I am going to take the bag. I am going to shoot you.'

The prosecutor added that the Audi was sold legitimately the previous month to another buyer.

Judge John Potter said the gun, which has not been recovered, was either realor a very realistic imitation. 

Witnesses described Miss Cogle 'shaking uncontrollably' at the scene.

Judge Potter said: 'It can be readily assumed that anyone subjected to such a serious incident in wholly alien surroundings to them would have been significantly affected by what occurred.'

Drug dealer Hussain, who was on bail at the time for supplying heroin and cocaine to police officers working undercover, was jailed for ten years after being convicted after trial.

Hussain, of Bradford, received a seven-year sentence for robbery and three years for peddling Class A drugs, to be served consecutively.

Sadik, also of Bradford, who was on prison licence for aggravated vehicle taking at the time of the offence, was sentenced to six years and three months in prison after pleading guilty on the first day of his trial.

Speaking after the sentence, social worker Miss Cogle, 38, said: 'I have never experienced such a fear in my life. Afterwards my body was trembling and my legs were wobbly. It went on for hours.'

She was signed off work for two weeks and was offered counselling by her employed Shetland Islands Council and Victim Support.

The mother-of-three said: 'I felt fragile for weeks, and couldn’t tell the story without breaking down in tears.'

Mr Irvine, 49, a foreman at the Shetland Catch fish factory, said: 'Police officers told us we were lucky to be alive - and that is all we were caring about.'

Miss Cogle said they had no reason to suspect anything was untoward.

She had done a vehicle history check on the DVLA’s website and had been in regular contact with the seller.

The cash and their passports have not been found.

Miss Cogle added: 'At least we are alive. You would never wish such a thing happening to anybody.'