JUST DESSERTS...
TRIO HELD 12-INCH KNIFE TO TAXI DRIVER’S THROAT IN GATESHEAD
Three thugs who held a 12-inch knife to a taxi driver’s throat have been jailed.
In June 2018 Rob- ert John O’Connor, 41, Catherine James, 46, and Joao Pinto, 39, booked a taxi and during the journey, the trio asked the driver to stop in a lay-by. They scanned the area before James held the blade to the victim’s throat and ordered him to give them his cash. The frightened driver began hand- ing over money, only to be struck on the head. O’Connor then stole the victim’s coin stash from the door pocket, taking the amount to £250. The gang then pocketed the car’s dashcam before fleeing. But officers from Northumbria
FAILING TO PAY TAXI FARE LED TO COURT FOR PEMBROKEWOMAN
(l-r) Robert O’Connor, Joao Pinto and Catherine James
Police later caught up with the group just hours later after speaking to the victim. Pinto and James pleaded guilty to robbery while O’- Connor was tried by jury and subse- quently convicted. The three, all from Gateshead, re- ceived the follow- ing sentences at Newcastle Crown Court: O’Connor was jailed for seven years; James was
given three years and eight months and Pinto was jailed for five years and three months. DC Callum Meech- an, who led the investigation, said: “This would have been a terrifying incident for the taxi driver. But his quick 999 call and de- tailed description allowed us to res- pond swiftly and in a matter of hours all three offenders were arrested.”
FIFE DRIVER ATTACKED BY DRUNK PASSENGER ON MOTORWAY
A taxi driver was punched repeated- ly by a drunk as he drove on the motorway
near
Dunfermline. Steven McGrath was unhappy about the route the driver was taking from Kelty to Livingston. Central Fife Times reports that after the assault, the cabbie put Mc-
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Grath out of the car and left him standing on the hard shoulder. McGrath, 32, from Kirkcaldy, appear- ed for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court as a result. He admitted that on December 22, 2018, on the M90, he assaulted the cabbie by punch- ing him on the
head repeatedly when he was driv- ing a taxi. The court was told McGrath had been drinking heavily . The Sheriff asked: “What other way would the driver go? Over the Kin- cardine Bridge via Knockhill?” He imposed a commu- nity order with 225 hours’ unpaid work.
An early morning taxi home from hospital cost a Neyland woman £225 when she failed to settle her debt with the driv- er. The Western Tele- graph reports that Melissa Eynon pleaded guilty to making off without payment when she appeared at Haver- fordwest
Magis-
trates’ Court on Tuesday, January 7. Vaughan Pritchard- Jones, prosecuting, said Eynon, 27, took a taxi after
being discharged from Withybush hospital at 2.30am on May 26. “She asked the complainant to take her to Milford Haven, but she wanted him to go via Pembroke Dock to collect a friend of hers.” At the end of the journey Eynon told the driver she did not have
the
money to pay the £70 fare, and offered to leave a bag of personal belongings as some security.
The driver involved the police when she made no effort to contact him, and she was given the opportunity to pay her debt in three instalments, but failed to do so. Mr Pritchard-Jones added: “She did not comply and did not pay any of the money back, des- pite being given this opportunity.” Magistrates fined Eynon £40 and ordered her to pay £70 compensation plus £115 in costs and a surcharge.
CALDERDALE DRIVER VIOLENTLY ATTACKED DURING ROBBERY
A 21-year-old man who was involved in a terrifying rob- bery where he grabbed a taxi driver by the throat and dragged him out of his car has been jailed for more than four years. The Halifax Courier reports that Brad- ford Crown Court heard that Cam- eron Wilkinson at- tacked cabbie Tariq Mahmood just two months after he had been part of a gang of hooded burglars who had struck in Halifax. “First he was asked to hand over his takings which he did,” Judge Burn
told Wilkinson. “That wasn’t en- ough. Having handed over his money you then demand his car keys. “You then dragged him out of his taxi and threw him onto the ground. You then kicked him very hard to the stomach and the taxi was stolen.” Prosecutor Geor- gina Coade told the court that Wilkinson and an accomplice had been picked up by Mr Mahmood on the night of Nov- ember 24, 2018. She said the pas- sengers directed him down a dead end where Wilkin-
son grabbed the cabbie round the neck and both of them demanded his money. Wilkinson, of no fixed abode, plead- ed guilty to the robbery charge about a year after the incident and he also admitted his part in the burglary offence from September 2018. Judge Burn sen- tenced Wilkinson to 22 months in jail for the flat burglary with an additional 32 months for the taxi driver robbery. He will serve up to half of the 54- month prison term and was banned from driving for a total of 39 months.
FEBRUARY 2020
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