Gang on cocaine rampage nearly killed PR man

A man was stabbed by a drug-fuelled gang as he told his wife on the phone that he was almost home.

PR executive Nick Rappolt, 31, nearly bled to death after he was attacked near his £1 million house just off Clapham Common. With his wife Lucy still listening, he was stabbed in the back and arm with a combat knife.

The attack was reminiscent of the murder of lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce who was stabbed to death in Kensal Rise two years ago just after he called his fiancée.

Mr Rappolt needed 10 hours of emergency surgery and a four-litre blood transfusion. He has lost most of the use in his left hand since the attack last September and blames the stress for his wife losing their first baby.

He was the third victim that night of the gang - Craig Ainslie, 22, Asha Grey, 21, and 17-year-old Carl Dinnage - who drank champagne and took cocaine as they celebrated Grey's birthday before driving around Wandsworth and Clapham in a stolen Ford Fiesta to pick out victims at random.

Their first attack was on pizza delivery driver Mohammed Dost who was beaten to the ground, battered with his helmet and robbed, Inner London crown court was told on Friday. They then selected Neil Dyer, 30, as he walked home in Wimbledon. He was pulled into the back of the car and taken on a terrifying drive as his captors told him: "We're going to kill you."

Mr Dyer tried to escape when they attempted to get money from his bank account with his card but they caught him. Witnesses said the trio kicked
his head "like a football" and broke his nose before speeding off. Mr Dyer, who was left with facial scars and needed surgery on his nose, said: "I thought I was going to die. I kept thinking to myself, is this how my life is going to end."

The gang's last victim was Mr Rappolt who had been at a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall before getting a taxi. He said in an impact statement: "Immediately after the attack I knew that I was only a few streets from my home address, my first instinct was for survival. I could feel my jeans becoming drenched in my own blood and began to realise that I might die. This incident has changed my perspective on how safe I am when out walking after dark."

He added: "Two days after the attack my wife found that she was pregnant. Regrettably she lost our baby six weeks later, and I have no doubt the stress of this incident was a contributing factor in this." He was found by his wife in the street and taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting.

His father, Michael Rappolt, a non-executive director at the hospital, said: "These men are absolute lunatics who should not be let out for a long time - they seem to have done these things just for the hell of it. There is a lot more crime going on in Wandsworth than is reported. It seems to me that violence is becoming more and more accepted in London and someone needs to get a grip on it and stamp it out."

The trio were sentenced on Friday after admitting several offences including kidnap, grievous bodily harm and robbery.

Grey, of Balham, was told he would have to serve a minimum term of five years, and Ainslie, of Tooting Bec, was given four years. Dinnage, who can now be named after the judge lifted reporting restrictions, was handed a two-year detention and training order.

Judge Roger Chapple told them: "The orgy of lawlessness, thuggery and violence that the three of you pursued that night has been altogether sickening to listen to. Your behaviour that night was as barbaric as it was shocking."