JUST DESERTS TWO YEARS’ JAIL FOR PASSENGER WHO THREATENED TO KILL LEEDS CABBIE OVER TAKINGS
A passenger tried to rob a taxi driver who picked him up in Leeds then threatened to kill him if he didn’t hand over his takings. Serwan Ali and a second man flagged down the cab last August and asked to be taken to Harehills. But they then told the driver to stop on another road in Harehills where the driver asked for the fare, Leeds Crown Court was told . At that point 22-year-old Ali said: “Give me your money.” When the driver refused, Ali replied began flailing his arms around while the second unnamed man warned the driver: “Just give him the money.” Luckily, the cabbie spotted a police car and drove towards it, stopping next to the van, as the two men made the threats to kill when they
realised what he was doing.
When detained, Ali was found with tramadol tablets in his pocket,
and
more were found after he was strip searched at the police station. Ali, from Wigan, later admitted attempted robbery,
aggravated public order and possession of Class C drugs. The court was told he had six previous convictions for 11 offences and was on two suspended sentences, one for possessing an offensive weapon.
Mitigating, Emily Hassell said Ali had come to the UK from Iraq illegally on a lorry when he was 16.
12 WEEKS’ JAIL FOR DRUNK WHO HEAD-BUTTED ASHBY CABBIE
A drunk man attacked a cabbie who tried to stop him bilking. On 20 March, the defendant asked to be taken to his Swadlincote home but had to visit a store to get the £11 fare. When he got out of the taxi he started to walk away, so the taxi driver got out and held him by the arm but the defendant head-butted him to the right side of the head. Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court heard how Lee Insley then smashed up part of his parent’s home with a kettle after “going off on one” due to the booze. The 49-year-old told the hearing he did so because someone “was slagging my ex-missus off calling her ‘a fat monster’.” Jailing the defendant for 12 weeks, District Judge Jonathan Taaffe said: “You have assaulted a taxi driver who was simply doing his duty, he tried to reason with you and you head-butted him.” Judge Taaffe also ordered Insley to pay the cabbie £100 compensation and to pay his parents £280 compensation for the damage he caused using the kettle.
10 racially
He was under the influence, had been drinking and could remember “very little” of the offences. Judge Andrew Stubbs KC told Ali: “Your intention was to not go anywhere, your intention was to rob the taxi driver. You threatened him with violence and you did everything you could have possibly done to take his money. Luckily for him there was a police van nearby. “At 22, you have been given chances and not taken them. Your chances, I’m afraid, have run out.” He jailed Ali for 24 months in total, made up of 21 months for the latest offences, while activating three months of previous sus- pended sentences.
SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR SCUNTHORPE CABBIE ATTACK
A cabbie was subject to a horrific attack in the Scunthorpe area, Grimsby Crown Court heard. Last April, Adrian Downs, 31, got into the cab and sat behind the driver. After travelling a short distance, he suddenly unbuckled his seatbelt and grabbed the taxi driver from behind and put his arm around his neck. Fortunately the driver was able to pull over and Downs opened his door, before punching the driver in the face who was later treated in hospital for a cut lip and suspected fracture of his cheek bone. Downs was later arrested and said he had no recollection of the incident due to intoxication. Downs admitted assaulting the driver. Sentencing him, The Judge said: “It was a wholly unprovoked attack on a taxi driver, driving alone at night and vulnerable. He thought you were going to kill him.” Judge Fanning sentenced Downs to nine months in prison suspended for 12 months, 120 hours of unpaid work and was also ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to the taxi driver.
APRIL 2023 PHTM
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