‘He has a heart of gold’ – Friend of driver who had hand chopped off in Rotherham carjacking describes horrific incident

The 25-year-old suffered the ‘life-changing arm injury’ and had his car stolen after being attacked by a gang of men when he pulled over on East Bawtry Road, Whiston, at around 10.50pm on Sunday.

Police said the man, who was travelling alone in a white Mercedes Benz C220 , briefly pulled over close to the junction with Lease Gate Road.

His friend Josh Oxley said he had pulled over to look for his phone, which he had dropped somewhere in his car.

As he got out of his car, he was approached by a group of unknown men and attacked with a metal weapon.

The attackers, who got out of a dark blue coloured vehicle, then left the scene in the victim’s Mercedes.

The victim was taken to hospital, where he remains in a serious but stable condition.

Josh Oxley, a friend of the victim, said: “I am very shocked. He rang me at 10.43pm and we were on the phone for four minutes. He was at Whiston Crossroads at the time.

“He just rang me and was asking me what I was doing and then I got a phone call saying what had happened.”

Mr Oxley said the victim pulled up after dropping his phone in his Mercedes Benz C220 and a car with a gang of masked men pulled up behind him.

He said: “He is not a bad person at all, he wouldn’t hurt anyone. He has got a heart of gold. He’s got a nice car so whether they have done it purely for the car, I don’t know.

“But he described it as a machete – you don’t chop someone’s hand off for the sake of nicking their car – it’s shocking.”

Mr Oxley said the victim was taken to Rotherham Hospital and underwent emergency surgery.

He said the victim had been told they might not be able to reconnect the main artery to his left hand.

In a statement, South Yorkshire Police said: “The victim was taken to hospital with a life changing arm injury. He remains in a serious but stable condition.

“An investigation is under way and officers are currently following a number of lines of enquiry including reviewing CCTV and house-to-house visits.”

Anyone with information should call 101 and quote incident 985 of April 7 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.