A MAN who was among a group of three friends who punched a taxi driver and stole his car, has been detained under the Mental Health Act.

Michael Chiappinelli, aged 26, and two friends ordered a Metro taxi on September 9.

They asked the taxi driver, Imran Sarwar, to take them to Morrison’s, in Bury Road, Bolton.

But on the way the group ordered the taxi driver to stop and he pulled over in a lay-by.

Prosecuting, Lyndsay Thomas said: “The front seat passenger put him in a headlock, punched him to the side and back of his head and demanded he give over money and his phone. Fortunately the taxi driver was able to get out of the man’s grip and he ran from his taxi.

“He was then followed by the three males, but they couldn’t catch him so they went back to the taxi, got in it and proceeded to ride off.”

The group drove down Garstang Avenue and were spotted by a Mrs Owens and her partner Mr Noon, who were driving with their five children. The taxi, in which Chiappinelli was a passenger, was then seen by Mr Noon to hit a parked Audi, bounce off it and hit Mr Noon’s car on the driver’s side and he suffered neck pain.

In a witness statement read to the court he said: “The children screamed and were hysterical.

“I was initially upset, worried and panicked for my family, then sympathetic because it was an accident, but then I felt blind rage because they were nothing more than idiots who found it funny.”

Chiappinelli, of Darwen Road, in Bromley Cross, pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and aggravated vehicle taking on the basis that he did not take £500 from the taxi driver and did not drive the vehicle. The court heard from Dr Jonathan Hellewell, a lead consultant psychiatrist, that Chiappinelli was suffering from schizophrenia and would benefit from in-patient treatment at a hospital rather than a prison.

Defending, Elizabeth Dudley-Jones said: “That would be the most suitable decision.”

Honour Judge Graeme Smith said: “Your basis of plea, which I accept, is that you were not the driver and did not steal anything, nonetheless you were involved in two serious offences which led to two people being injured.”

Chiappinelli was ordered to be admitted to the Royal Bolton Hospital Psychiatric Unit, within 28 days and disqualified from driving for one year.