A Bradford robber who held an axe to a taxi driver’s face and threatened to murder him has been jailed for eight years and four months after a two-day armed robbery spree.
Ismail Ahmed, 24, was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on 29 September 2026. Recorder Ella Anderson said he posed a danger to the public and attached an extended three-year licence period to the most serious part of the case, a five-year seven-month term. She ordered the axe seized in the investigation to be forfeited and destroyed.
Attack on the taxi driver
The court heard that on 11 May Ahmed took a taxi to a Co-op on High Park Drive, told the driver to wait by the door, then climbed over the counter and threatened staff with an axe. He left empty-handed, got back into the cab and ordered the driver to move.
He became aggressive, telling the driver to go faster and asking if the car had a tracker. He then pulled out the axe, put his arm around the driver’s neck and held the blade to his face, saying: “I’m going to murder you.” He also threatened to take the vehicle.
The driver managed to get his hand between his neck and the axe, stop the car and run, taking the keys with him. Ahmed got into the driver’s seat but could not drive away. He fled and was arrested later that day.
The wider spree
The taxi attack came at the end of offending that began on 9 May. Ahmed robbed an Esso on Wakefield Road of £400 after threatening to stab a shop worker, then targeted a Premier on Beacon Road and a Morrison’s Daily on Allerton Road, where he produced a hammer and threatened to smash it over staff heads. He took £842 in cash and cigarettes from the Morrison’s Daily.
On 11 May he also produced an axe in a Premier on Legrams Lane and later returned to the Beacon Road Premier wearing a balaclava, pushing a female worker aside and trying to force the till open before running when police were called.
He pleaded guilty to ten offences: two robberies, five attempted robberies, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of a bladed article and refusing a Class A drug test. He had been released only five months earlier from a previous sentence for conspiracy to rob and was still on licence when the new offences began.
Recorder Anderson told him the offences were extremely serious, using weapons to make threats and instil fear. She said the pattern of behaviour and escalation left her satisfied he presented a risk of serious harm.