TWO career criminals have been jailed after beating Justice Minister Humza Yousaf’s father with weapons during a home robbery that saw them make off with a luxury car.
Anthony Cashmore, 36, wielded a hammer when he stormed Muzaffar Yousaf’s four bedroom detached home in the affluent Glasgow suburb of Newton Mearns.
Accomplice Stephen Dailly, 43, was armed with a knife when snatched the keys of the 63-year-old’s Jaguar – which boasts a personal registration plate – and sped off in the vehicle.
Paisley Sheriff Court heard how Mr Yousaf had just finished his morning prayers when he walked into the hall and spotted Cashmore who swung a hammer at his head.
The grandfather managed to force Cashmore, who has 51 previous convictions and has been locked up 28 times, into the garden but was badly beaten in the ensuring melee.
Cashmore sped off in another Jaguar, that Dailly had stolen from his own brother earlier, and Mr Yousaf locked himself in his home and called the police.
Cashmore was on a Community Payback Order at the time, having been spared jail for handling stolen goods, while Dailly had recently been released from a seven-year sentence imposed for attempted robbery while armed with a knife.
Dailly then led police on a high-speed chase in Mr Yousaf’s car, during which he hit another car and blew one of the tyres after hitting the kerb - before jumping from the moving vehicle at speed and making off on foot.
But police officers soon caught up with him and arrested him.
Cashmore was traced later and items from their crime spree were found in his home.
Cashmore and Dailly, who has 33 previous convictions and has been jailed 22 times, admitted their guilt over the February 2, 2018 offences during a pre-trial hearing last month.
Both men struck a deal with prosecutors which saw them pleading guilty to certain charges in exchange for others being dropped.
Dailly admitted stealing his brother’s car, entering an insecure car in Newton Mearns and stealing a SatNav, iPod shuffle, a mirror, headphones, an earring, a watch, a bag full of clothes, CDs and cash from the vehicle.
He also admitted trying to break in to a garage nearby, driving dangerously, at speed, and crashing in to the wall after crashing in to another car, being in possession of a knife, being in possession of stolen goods by having Mr Yousaf’s car key, stealing his vehicle, driving it without insurance and driving it while disqualified.
Cashmore pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Yousaf by brandishing a hammer at him, raining punches on his head and taking his car.
Sheriff David Pender, sentencing the pair, said jail was inevitable.
He jailed Cashmore for 42 months and Dailly for 38 months as well as banning him from driving for 25 years.
They were also made the subject of year-long Supervised Release Orders, meaning they will be monitored in the community once released from custody, “to protect the public from serious harm”.
Defence solicitor Terry Gallanagh said Dailly had moved to Irvine once released from prison last November where he stayed out of trouble.
But he said he fell back in to his old ways after moving back to East Renfrewshire following the death of his grandmother.
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