A thug jailed for an arson attack after a £274,000 building firm dispute had previously held a senior HR role at Birmingham City Council.
Mark Cohen, 49, had been employed by the authority for more than 20 years before he was jailed last month after torching a Land Rover.
He also boasted of having a security role during a Birmingham visit by Hollywood superstar Will Smith, and at the NEC’s Clothes Show Live.
The attack was part of a chilling campaign of terror against employees of a national construction firm.
Before the attack, he had texted “Barbecue tomorrow” to businessman Narrinder Nijjer, who is understood to be wanted by police.
Now it has emerged that Cohen previously held a senior HR role at Birmingham City Council.
His LinkedIn page says he had worked for the authority for 21 years and offered “expertise in managing absence”.
A Birmingham City spokesman confirmed: “We are aware that a former employee of the city council has been convicted of arson.
“As the individual no longer works for the council, we would not have anything further to add.”
Cohen, of St David’s Drive, Quinton, also boasted on his LinkedIn page of previously working as a ‘close protection officer’ for bands and ‘principles’ at Birmingham Clothes Show Live.
He claimed, too, that he had been involved in a ‘launch’ for Hollywood star Will Smith, who visited Birmingham for the regional film premiere of Hitch in 2005.
“Duties for this project were crowd control, access and egress to and from the premiere building,” wrote Cohen.
“Also had to ensure traffic measures were in place in order to keep the Principle on schedule throughout a very hectic day.”
Birmingham Crown Court last month heard that Narrinder Nijjer hired henchman Cohen to torch a Land Rover belonging to another businessman.
Another target was brutally beaten at his own home after answering his door to Kyle Bent, who was also jailed for three and a half years.
Jurors were told the chilling attacks were part of a campaign of terror linked to wealthy Nijjer, who lived in leafy Little Aston in Sutton Coldfield and was considered at the time to be the owner of Black Country-based company Fortel, the prosecution said.
Fortel had claimed it was owed £274,000 by McLaren Construction Limited, a national building contractor which employs 500 people.
When the money was not paid, employees of McLaren were targeted with intimidation and violence, allegedly including shots fired at houses in the West Midlands.
It is understood that Nijjer is wanted for questioning by West Midlands Police but has been living abroad for some time. He has not been charged in connection with the attacks.
Andrew Smith QC, prosecuting, had said: “A sub-contractor used by McLaren was a firm called Fortel based in Willenhall. A regional managing director at McLaren considered Narrinder Nijjer to be the owner of Fortel. In 2014, a dispute arose between McLaren and Fortel.”
He told the court that Nijjer was linked to a subsequent campaign of arson and violence.
“Between early January and June 2015 a series of serious offences were committed against a number of individuals who worked for a company called McLaren,” he said.
“The offences were the arson of a car in Derbyshire, a serious assault of a man in his home in North Yorkshire and two separate discharges of firearms directed at homes in the West Midlands.”
Cohen was convicted of conspiracy to commit arson but found not guilty of two counts of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent. Bent, 31, of Ashton House, Corporation Street, Manchester, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit actual bodily harm.
“The prosecution case is that Mark Cohen was an active participant in the arson and played an important facilitating role in both the discharges of firearms,” said Mr Smith.
Bent, meanwhile, played “active roles” in the serious assault.
The court heard how McLaren’s Midland and North branch was involved in the building of a Home Bargains distribution centre in Salisbury, Wiltshire, which Fortel had been sub-contracted to work on.
“A dispute arose between the two building firms in 2014 in which it was alleged that Fortel was owed £274,000, said Mr Smith, who added there had been no resolution to that dispute before the offences were committed.
“The defendants were acting at the relevant times either directly or indirectly on behalf of Nijjer,” he added.
“The common link is that the individuals subjected to the criminal acts were employees, or closely linked to employees, of McLaren.”
On January 8, 2015, McLaren’s regional managing director had parked his Land Rover Freelander outside his Derbyshire village home.
At around 9.30pm a neighbour knocked on his front door and, when he looked out, he could see flames coming from beneath the bonnet. The fire brigade later extinguished the ‘ferocious blaze’.
Jurors heard that Cohen had poured flammable liquid over the vehicle and, just hours before the arson attack, sent Nijjer a text which read: “Barbecue tomorrow.”
The company’s commercial director also lived in a village where, on February 16, 2015, a neighbour saw two large-built men wearing dark clothing heading towards his property. He later said one of the men was Bent.
When the victim opened the kitchen door, one of them men asked whether he was the McLaren director before punching him in the face and knocking him to the floor. The victim later had to have surgery after suffering a fractured eye socket in the attack.
Judge Kristina Montgomery QC said that Cohen and Nijjer had a “mutually beneficial relationship”.
She told Cohen: “You were a man who was prepared to do what he asked you to.
“He asked you to do something that was quite out of kilter with a good friendship, and something you were prepared to do and provide you with additional income.”
Referring to Narrinder Nijjer, she added: “You were in touching distance of the glamorous lifestyle that he led, and that in itself was an attraction.”
The judge said Cohen had helped to execute the message which Nijjer wanted to send out that: “They could not mess with him.”
She described Bent as Nijjer’s “hired hand” and referring to the attack on one of the victims, said: “He was struck a forceful blow to the face without any opportunity to defend himself.
“The consequences of that blow were very serious.”
