...SHAME SHAME


AYR TAXI DRIVER MOVES IN HIS SCHOOLGIRL FARE


A convicted pervert shacked up with a teenager he met while running her to school in his taxi. John Gemmell, 43, split with wife Angela and moved Gemma Lawson into their mar- ital home just weeks after her 16th birth- day. He had been on a contract to run her from her home in Dun- donald, Ayrshire, to a support centre for kids out of main- stream education for three days a week since she was aged just 14. The Scottish Sun reports that Gemmell was sacked by taxi bosses when they found out Gemma had moved into his house. The shocking revela-


tions emerged as he appeared at Ayr Sher- iff Court in December after being found guilty of making sexu- al comments to two girls aged as young as eight. A source said: “Every- one who knows him is sickened. Gemma moved in just after she turned 16. “John insists that she was 16 before they got together but that is beside the point, he obviously got to know her through the taxi driving - it’s not right. John and Angela have a six-year-old togeth- er and this has ripped the family apart.” A former colleague - who didn’t want to be named - said: “Angela was going on about them having a rela-


tionship but nobody could believe he would be that stupid. “Gemmell denied it but didn’t do enough to satisfy the boss and was sacked. Obviously the boss was worried about losing the contract for the schools - we are working with kids and it is an absolute no- no. “About three weeks later Gemma was found in his house.” The former workmate added: “This was only a few weeks after he stopped running her to school. It seems there was a lot of talk going between them on the internet - it’s totally inappropriate.” Gemmell has been placed on the sex offenders register.


LONDON DRIVER SENTENCED FOR CAUSING DEATH BY CARELESS DRIVING


The family of a man killed in a hit and run have vowed to battle on for justice after the drunken taxi driver responsible for his death was last month sentenced to seven and a half years in prison at The Inner London Crown Court. Paul Unthank was struck by the speed- ing minicab being driven by Mr Swiatek as he worked in a cor- doned off area of Upton Lane, East Lon- don in October last year. His colleagues called for an ambu- lance to help, but his injuries were too severe and he died at the scene.


According to Irwin- mitchell.com, in the early hours of Octo- ber 13 Paul, 43, a Waste Water Field Worker, had been retrieving monitoring equipment


from a


man hole when he suffered the devastat- ing


injuries, as


Swiatek sped past in his Toyota Corolla. The drunken taxi driv- er rang the police just an hour after the inci- dent and informed them that he had found his car which had been stolen and damaged. But police didn’t believe his story and arrested him immediately. He was found to be two


and half times over the drink drive limit. On December 16 he pleaded guilty to the offence of causing Mr Unthank’s


death


through careless driv- ing. When handing down the sentence the judge said: “…Mr. Unthank was a hard working, devoted man who lived for his chil- dren. He himself was one of six children. Nothing I say, nothing the court does by way of sentence can pos- sibly begin to reflect the heartache and sense of loss being suffered


by Mr.


Unthank’s widow and family.”


ROTHERHAM PHV DRIVER ‘ACTED AS DRUGS COURIER’


A private hire driver and his cousin from Rotherham played key roles in a national oper- ation to supply cutting agents for Class A drugs, a court heard. Zakir Hussain, 29, was a cabbie by day - but on the side worked as a courier for his cousin Omar Sadique in the supply of controlled illegal drugs,


it is


claimed. Sadique, also 29, is accused of running a business on a national scale supplying cutting agents - powders mixed with raw cocaine to make the drug go further. The Sheffield Star reports that Maidstone Crown Court heard he ran the enterprise


under the guise of company OA Supplies Ltd, and sold direct to drug dealers and regional distributors. He had premises at Valley Works industrial estate in Ecclesfield, Sheffield. When they were searched by police in February 2010 a substantial store of cutting agents was found, the court was told. Hussain was Sadique’s assistant until the end of 2009 - and in August that summer he deliv- ered chemicals to a man called Ty Ripley in Kent, it is claimed. Ripley is accused of using land at a farm in Kent to store chemicals including caffeine, lido- caine, phenacetin and


benzocaine. When police searched the farm they discov- ered


a barrel


containing plastic bags of white powder. Allister Walker, prose- cuting, said Ripley was “at the very hub” of the case as a regional dis- tributor of cutting agents supplied to him by Sadique. Sadique denies con- spiracy to supply cocaine, and he and Hussain both deny assisting in the supply of controlled drugs. Cutting agents, Mr Walker said, were an integral part of drug trafficking. Seven men and two women in total are on trial. The case contin- ues............


FOUR YEARS FOR MIDDLESBROUGH DRIVER WHO CARRIED DRUGS


A broken brake light on a taxi heading out of Middlesbrough sparked the discovery of more than 2kg of heroin being couriered from Teesside. The Peugeot 307 was moving southbound on the A19 when offi- cers noticed the defective light and saw that the driver wasn’t wearing a seat belt. The man behind the wheel, Mohammed Nadeem, was shaking, sweating and “ex- tremely nervous” when he was pulled over in August last year. Taxi driver and drugs courier Nadeem, 39, had four half-kilo packages of heroin in the car, Teesside Crown Court heard.


TAXI EXHIBITION


• WED 30 & THURS 31 MAY Westminster Insurance


“The total weight of heroin recovered was 2,001g, just slightly over 2kg,” said pro- secutor


Christine


Egerton. “The street value of those drugs would be £150,000 to £205,000 depending on how it was dealt at the time.” At first, Nadeem said he had no knowledge of the drugs or how they’d got into the car, which he claimed he’d left unlocked. He later admitted pos- sessing the Class A drugs with intent to supply - his first offence. The prosecution ac- cepted his account that he was acting as a courier in a one-off exchange. He said he


was asked by a friend to travel to Middles- brough, where he met a man and was asked to take a package back to Bedford. He rang his friend and was told he should “do as he was told”. He was scared and agreed to take the drugs under pressure from “ruthless” peo- ple. According to the Mid- dlesbrough Evening Gazette,


Judge


George Moorhouse told Nadeem: “You had a responsible job as a taxi driver and you abused that posi- tion.” He jailed Nadeem for four years and banned him from driving for the same period.


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