JUST DESSERTS...
MEN WHO AMBUSHED FIFE TAXI DRIVER AT KNIFEPOINT JAILED FOR A TOTAL OF SEVEN YEARS
A pair of men who ambushed a Fife taxi driver and robbed him at knifepoint have been jailed for a combined total of seven years at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. The Courier reports that Andrew McKenna, 29, and John Wilson, 43, both prisoners at Perth, lured Floyd Taylor to an address in Cowdenbeath in the early hours of August 21 before McKenna held a knife to the terrified cabbie’s throat and demanded all the money he had. Just hours earlier, McKenna had also robbed the Good News store in Broad Street, again using a knife to threaten a shopkeeper prior to making off with just £40 in cash. Appearing via video links at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, McKenna admitted two charges of assault and robbery and was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment
Andrew McKenna
by Sheriff James Williamson. Wil- son will serve 36 months behind bars for his part in the taxi driver robbery. Fiscal Ronnie Hay told the court how taxi driver Mr Taylor, who was driving
for Cowdenbeath Taxis, was called at around 12.45am on August 21 by a male requesting a taxi at James Court, where McKenna lived. On arrival, Mr Taylor saw two men who asked him to turn his vehicle around. However, before he could put the taxi into reverse, Wilson opened the pas- senger door and McKenna opened the
driver’s door. McKenna held a four to five-inch knife to Mr Taylor’s throat and said, “Money now”, at which point Mr Taylor handed over a coin dispenser but McKenna then said: “And the rest…” Mr Taylor then handed over a small shaving-style bag containing cash and McKenna and Wilson ran off. Around £150 in loose coins and bank- notes had been stolen and Mr Hay said an “extremely shaken and upset” Mr Taylor contacted police. However, Sheriff Williamson told Mc- Kenna: “These offences are not sophisticated but what they also are not are spur of the moment and what they are not is opportunistic. There’s a degree of planning involved in both. These offences have clearly caused those involved some considerable distress.”
BMW SMASHES INTO TAXI IN HIGH-SPEED M6 CRASH THAT FLUNG DRIVER IN THE AIR
A taxi driver who had stopped his Ford Focus on the M6 northbound was hit by Ben Cooke and flung in the air like a rag doll and into the path of 70mph traffic on the motorway. According to BirminghamLive, the vic- tim had stopped his vehicle on the hard shoulder and activated his hazard lights in December, last year. As he got out of his car, ex soldier Ben Cooke was caught on camera speeding in his BMW 118 and undertaking several cars on the hard shoulder. Cooke is then filmed smashing into the taxi and the driver, leaving him lying helplessly as cars in lane one swerved to avoid him. Cooke, 35, walked away and got into a taxi which had stopped near to the scene of the collision. Mercifully, an ambulance on its way to another emergency, and which Cooke
98
had overtaken moments earlier, stopped to help the victim. Cooke, from Tam- worth, was driven to the Holiday Inn in Castle Brom- wich where he checked in for the night. He was arrested
the next day and initially made no com- ment in interview but went on to admit causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was jailed for 18 months at Birming- ham Crown Court on Monday 16 November. He’s also been banned from driving for four years and nine months. The taxi driver suffered a spinal frac- ture and multiple broken ribs as well as
cuts, grazes and bruises. He was expected to make a full recov- ery but had not been able to work since the collision resulting in 'emotional and financial difficulties'. PC Nick James, from the Central Motor- way Police Group, said: “This was a horrific piece of driving, in terrible weather conditions on a part of the motorway that he shouldn’t have been on as the matrix boards were display- ing: ‘Hard Shoulder for emergency use only’ to show it was closed. “We don’t know exactly how fast Cooke was going, but he was clearly undertak- ing vehicles which would have been travelling at around 70mph. “The taxi driver has no memory of the accident or why he had to stop on the hard shoulder. “Footage shows that this could have been so much worse.”
DECEMBER 2020
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 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124
