81-year-old man assisted drug dealer in getaway to 'overcome isolation'

An 81-year-old man who acted as a getaway driver to overcome his "isolation" has been jailed for helping a county lines drug dealer escape justice after stabbing a rival in a potentially fatal attack.

The 81-year-old man's lawyer said his isolation was the trigger for his involvement in the event. Picture: PA

Ian Hemmens was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court after he was found guilty of assisting an offender, alleged to be Mahamud Sami, who has fled the country to Bahrain.

The retired burger van worker of Chichester, West Sussex, showed no emotion as he was told by Judge Roger Hetherington he would serve a jail term of nine months.

His co-defendant, Akeem Adebayo, 23, of Colindale, London, was jailed for nine years for wounding with intent and two charges of possessing cocaine and heroin with intent to supply.

Judge Hetherington told Mr Hemmens: "You assisted an offender by driving him away from the scene when you knew he must have been involved in a serious assault, you saw blood on him and you undoubtedly knew that he had been involved in drug dealing.

"But your involvement was considerably more than this one journey, you made several journeys on that day and on the night before, you would have been aware that you were being used as a driver whose age and appearance would have been unlikely to draw attention."

The court heard that Mr Hemmens had acted as a driver in his green Citroen C3 for Adebayo and his co-drug dealer, Mr Sami, from Chichester to Bognor Regis on March 10.

Amy Packham, prosecuting, told the court a dispute broke out with a rival "drug dealer", Dimitrijs Semelis, from Lithuania which led to Mr Adebayo and Mr Sami chasing him while families with young children were nearby.

Mr Adebayo then held Mr Semelis on the ground and shouted "Just f****** stab him" three times, while Mr Sami stabbed him five or six times, Ms Packham said.

She said that Hemmens had remained in contact with Mr Sami and arranged for him to bring the car nearby to pick him up.

She said: "He was seen to sprint to the car, jumped in the back of the car and disappeared into the footwell.

"The assisting the offender was effective, it not only took Mr Sami from the scene and prevent his arrest, it then allowed Mr Sami to leave the Chichester area and then the country.

"The last know whereabouts is he was on a flight to Bahrain.

"There is an all ports warning out for him which has not been triggered yet."

"Very strange indeed"

Describing the injuries suffered by Mr Semelis, which including a "potentially fatal" punctured lung, Ms Packham said: "It was life-threatening, he was lucky he was treated so quickly and successfully."

Mark Kessler, defending Hemmens, said: "It's unusual to find a man of Mr Hemmens' background should be in court at his age for a matter of this nature, it's very strange indeed."

Saying the client's isolation had led to his involvement, he added: "The defendant admits that he likes talking to people and that is why it has come about."