Metropolitan Police
- A British man disguised himself as an Amazon driver by wearing a high-vis jacket and carrying an empty box.
- Footage shows him unveil his loaded gun before being pushed back by his unsuspecting victim.
- The fake delivery driver has been jailed for six years and nine months.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
A British man who disguised himself as an Amazon delivery driver to terrorize an unsuspecting victim has been jailed, BBC News reported.
Vincente Forde, 32, arrived at a house in the Crystal Palace area of south London in July 2020 wearing a high-vis jacket and holding an empty Amazon box, the media outlet said.
He was covertly carrying a loaded, sawn-off shotgun which he pointed at his victim, Rashid Ben-Mhamedi, who opened the door, according to BBC News.
-ITV London (@itvlondon) July 29, 2021
Video footage, recorded on a doorbell camera, shows Forde charging at his victim as Ben-Mhamedi fights back.
Forde can be seen repeatedly punching Ben-Mhamedi and, according to BBC News, broke his victim's nose.
Ben-Mhamedi, who had been at home looking after his seven-year-old daughter, managed to prise the shotgun out of Forde's hands and threw it under a nearby car, the media outlet reported. Nearby construction works then helped restrain Forde, the Evening Standard said.
Police later recovered the weapon, which had been loaded with two live cartridges, BBC News reported.
Forde has been sentenced to six years and nine months in prison.
In a letter to Croydon Crown Court, Forde said that he felt "sick to his stomach" for what he did to his victim.
He pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, possession of a prohibited weapon, and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited.
His lawyer, Matthew Bagnall, said the attack was "amateurish" and that Forde had been instructed to orchestrate the attack by a drugs gang, the Evening Standard reported.
"This was a completely unprovoked attack on an innocent householder. The victim simply opened his front door to retrieve what he thought was a delivery before he was aggressively set upon by a stranger," said Andrew Caird from the Crown Prosecution Service.
"Given that the shotgun had been loaded, it is incredibly lucky that nobody was fatally injured," Caird added.