Five men have been jailed for a combined 16 years and 10 months after a violent, coordinated attack outside Bristol Airport in February that left passengers and witnesses fearing a terrorist incident, Avon and Somerset Police said on Friday.
Vladamir Stan, 52, Able Marin, 21, Florin Stan, 28, Constantin Stan, 29, and Emanuel-Ronaldo Dumitru, 27, pleaded guilty to violent disorder at Bristol Crown Court on 28 August. All five were sentenced at a hearing on 11 September.
Police said the attack happened at around 8.30am on Saturday 21 February, when the five men arrived at the airport in separate cars and waited near the pick-up point for two men, aged 21 and 37, who were known to them. Once the victims were in their vehicle, four cars rammed it at the roundabout outside the airport entrance on the A38, before the attackers got out and struck the pair with bats. The 37-year-old suffered knife wounds to his legs and the 21-year-old was left with cuts and bruises to his head and body.
Officers were called immediately but the group fled the scene. They were tracked down around 45 minutes later near junction 9 of the M5 near Tewkesbury, police said, in an operation that involved three different police forces.
At sentencing, Judge Burgess described the attack as "well organised" and "coordinated," and said it caused "serious fear and disruption" to bystanders, some of whom believed they were witnessing "a terrorist incident" or a "car-jacking," according to BBC News.
Constantin Stan was jailed for four years having also admitted shoplifting offences, while Vladamir Stan, Flori