SHAME SHAME


HUNT FOR EDINBURGH CABBIE AFTER SEX ATTACK ON FEMALE PASSENGER


A taxi driver is being hunted by police after indecently assaulting a young woman he picked up in his black cab.


The 23-year-old victim was left “very dis- tressed” after being attacked in the taxi just yards from her front door following a night out with friends. The victim’s family had ordered her a taxi to take her home when the suspect’s black cab pulled up beside her in Lauder Road in Dalkeith. The woman wrongly assumed the


cab was intended for her and got inside for the short journey to her home in the town’s Larch Crescent. But the cabbie, a man in his late 30s, inde- cently assaulted her before driving off. Detectives are now working with black cab firms in a bid to identify drivers who were on duty at the time. Officers have also appealed to any- one who may have been dropped off by the driver in Dalkeith before he picked up the victim.


The suspect is described as white, late 30s, 5ft 6in tall, medium build, short dirty blond hair,


with a local accent. He wore light blue denims and white/cream T- shirt with a dark motif on the front.


According to the Edin- burgh Evening News, officers have traced CCTV images of the taxi and managed to establish that the vehi- cle had Edinburgh City Council plates. The driver of the taxi ordered for the victim also confirmed this.


EPPING FOREST TAXI DRIVER WAS £80M DRUG BARON


Neighbours of a taxi driver have spoken of their shock after he was sentenced to 28 years in jail for trying to flood the country with a staggering £80 million worth of cocaine. John Esqualant, 52, from Theydon Bois, was part of a gang of three caught in a sting by officers of the Seri- ous Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), while trying to offload 660lbs of the drug. Officers from SOCA met with gang member and Columbian nation- al Fernando Hurtado, 41, last March pretend- ing to be criminals. There, they offered to


distribute the cocaine so the gang could get rich quick.


An accomplice gave the undercover officers £320,800 as part pay- ment for the service. But a van containing the cocaine was stopped by armed SOCA offi- cers shortly after the money was paid on April 22 last year. Hurtado was arrested in London that same day together with Esqualant, and both men were convicted at Leicester Crown Court of conspiracy to supply cocaine, where they were each sentenced to 28 years’ imprison- ment.


Neighbours of Esqu- alant said they were amazed at his secret life. Peter Abbott, 71, told the Epping Forest Guardian: “This is a surprise. It’s not what you expect, but of course you never sus- pect these guys. “We thought he was a taxi driver. In our love- ly village, you wouldn’t believe it.”


After the sentencing, a spokesman for SOCA said: “These men thought they could make a lot of money through drug traffick- ing but our officers were one step ahead of them and made sure their plan failed.”


T AXI SUPPORT


YOUR TAXI BUSINESS IS NOT 9-5 DON’T ENTRUST YOUR LIVELIHOOD TO COMPANIES WHO AREN’T


FOR ALL YOUR HARDWARE SUPPORT Computers/Printers/Radios/MDTs/PDAs/Base Aerials


IMMEDIATE RESPONSE GIVING YOU PEACE OF MIND Rapid response times with a human touch


3 month rolling service contracts available or individually priced per visit – YOUR CHOICE


enquiries@taxi-support.com/www.taxi-support.co.uk COPLEY MILL, HUDDERSFIELD ROAD, STALYBRIDGE, CHESHIRE SK15 2QF


IN THE FIRST INSTANCE RING 0844 879 3688 PAGE 58 JURY NUMBER FIVE CONVICTS HULL CAB FIEND clean-shaven,


A private hire driver who conned four juries was facing life in jail last month - after a fifth finally believed he was a rapist. Paul Hewitt, 50 - who would drive victims to remote spots - was found guilty of a horrif- ic spree in which he preyed on girls as young as 13.


It was his fifth separate trial after previous juries either acquitted him or were deadlocked. Over 15 years he struck at least five times in his home city of Hull. Detective Constable Craig Nicholson told the Sun: “We believe there could be more victims out there.” Hewitt tutted when the


verdict was delivered at Hull Crown Court. He will be sentenced later but Judge Roger Thorn QC warned him he faced being jailed for life.


The mum of a 13-year- old raped by the monster branded him “pure evil”. She raged: “He should never be allowed out.”


DERWENTSIDE BENEFIT CHEAT FACES PRISON


A shamed taxi driver faces jail for fiddling more than £14,000 of benefits.


Nasir Ahmed claimed he was unfit for work but it came to light he was working as a cab- bie in Derwentside. According to the New- castle upon Tyne Evening Chronicle, an investigation was launched after Gates- head Council received a tip-off.


Enquiries revealed that Ahmed, 51, of Gateshead, had app- lied for Incapacity Ben- efit, but after a medical


examination was ruled fit for work and put on Jobseekers’ Allowance. But he appealed the ruling and won and as a result he was put on Income Support and was eligi- ble for Housing and Council Tax Benefit. Gateshead Council prosecutor Roddy Currie said that in Jan- uary 2009 the council received information Ahmed was working as a self-employed taxi driver after he was given a hackney car- riage licence by Derwentside Council.


He said as a result of the fraud Ahmed was over- paid benefit to the tune of £14,613.34 to which he wasn’t entitled. “As far as we are aware no arrangements have been made to repay this overpayment to date,” he said.


Ahmed pleaded guilty to making a false statement to obtain benefit and of failing to notify a change of cir- cumstances.


Magistrates adjourned sentence for probation reports and warned Ahmed that he could go to jail.


SIX YEARS FOR LEEDS CABBIE WHO KEPT GUNS UNDER HIS BED


24-7!!


A Leeds taxi driver has been jailed for six years for possessing an M3 machine pistol and a sawn-off shot- gun under his bed. Anthony Scott, 48, told Judge Paul Hoffman he had found the weapons in a skip off Spen Lane and put them in a drawer under his bed.


He said: “I just thought they were interesting and took them with me.” Police raided his prop- erty on August 25 last year. The court heard his elderly deaf moth- er had answered the door to the police and said that Scott was her full-time carer.


Judge Hoffman told Scott he didn’t believe his story. He said: “So it follows the circum- stances in which you received these wea- pons are shrouded in mystery. The shotgun is nothing other than a criminal’s weapon. “The stock has been shortened, the barrel has been shortened and the stock has been bound with tape to prevent fingerprints adhering to it.


“The other was a machine pistol. There were two matching bullets that are capa- ble of being fired from it. I cannot think of any other use for these guns than criminal


use. I am quite certain that you knew that.” The Judge said he believed Scott was probably looking after the weapons for someone else.


Scott, who had plead- ed guilty to all three charges, was given six years for each count of possessing firearms and three years for possession of live ammunition, all to run concurrently.


The haul saw police discover the 12-bore shotgun as well as a further four live car- tridges. A quantity of crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis was also found with approxi- mately £300 cash.


PHTM APRIL 2010


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112