Firearms arrest as police probe Birches Head bin lorry attacks

05/04/2023

Police have made three arrests after one bin man was seriously injured and three more hurt as two refuse lorries were targeted in Stoke-on-Trent.

A 17-year-old boy and two men – aged 19 and 23 – have been taken in for questioning today a fortnight after two wagons and their crews were attacked last month.

The arrests come after armed officers were called to Birches Head ^[1] when violence erupted shortly after 11am on Tuesday, March 21. They were initially sent to Fairhaven Grove, where one refuse collector – aged in his 50s – had reportedly been punched and the wagon struck with a metal pole.

Officers were then diverted to Birches Head Road around half an hour later. It was reported that three Stoke-on-Trent City Council ^[3] bin men were assaulted with ‘various tools’. One man was taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital with face, head and torso injuries. Two others received medical treatment at the scene before being discharged.

The incidents – which detectives believe to be linked – led to waste collections in the city being suspended as door-to-door inquiries were carried out an appeals were issued for witnesses, CCTV and dashcam footage.

In an update two weeks on from the incidents, Staffordshire Police have confirmed they today have three suspects in custody.

The 17-year-old, from Stoke-on-Trent, was arrested on suspicion of Section 18 grievous bodily harm with intent. The 23-year-old, also from Stoke-on-Trent, is being held on suspicion of Section 18 wounding with intent, conspiring to assault a person occasioning them actual bodily harm, conspiring to possess a firearm without a certificate, attempted theft of a motor vehicle and criminal damage.

Meanwhile, the 19-year-old man, also from Stoke-on-Trent, was detained on suspicion of assault by beating.

A Staffordshire Police ^[4] spokesman said: “We arrested two men and a teenage boy this morning in connection with the assaults on a number of refuse collectors last month. A number of refuse collectors were assaulted on Tuesday, March 21 in Birches Head. They all remain in custody.”

Joe Cordon, 27, from Stoke-on-Trent, appeared at North Staffordshire Justice Centre last month in connection with the incidents. He is charged with wounding with intent, two counts of assaulting a person thereby occasioning them actual bodily harm and two counts of criminal damage. He was remanded in custody to appear at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on April 28.

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