JUST DESERTS


22 MONTHS’ JAIL FOR BIRMINGHAM DRUNK FOR NON-FATAL STRANGULATION OF PH DRIVER


A terrified Birmingham PH driver was strangled by a drunken passenger following an argument over a fare.


The cabbie had picked up James Beckett, 30, on the evening of June 26 this year. However as they got near to his Bromford home he asked the defendant for the fare - but Beckett falsely claimed it had already been paid by his mother. The driver checked his system and discovered that this was untrue said Sabia Pathan, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court. Beckett then tried to get out of the vehicle while it was still moving but the victim had locked the doors, she added. She said the defendant was sitting behind the cabbie, adding: “He


placed his arm around the driver’s neck


from


behind very tightly.


“He des- cribed being pulled back towards his chair and struggling to breathe. This was done approximately three times in a confined location.” The driver managed to


free


himself and shouted for help, at which point the defendant said: ‘Nobody is going to help you’.” Beckett tried to grab the cab keys before he fled. When the defendant was arrested he was found to be carrying a folding knife and as a result of his difficult


behaviour, he was put in a squad car with a cage. In a statement the victim said that he had “feared he would not go home to his children”, had con- sidered quitting his job and still suffered pain from the attack. In passing sentence Judge Thomas Rochford said: “The victim was vulnerable. He was a taxi driver working alone. “There was strangulation which I regard as an aggravating factor. He no longer works nights and was traumatised by the incident.” Beckett was jailed for 22 months after previously being found guilty of the new offence of non-fatal strangulation. He also admitted possessing a knife.


61 MONTHS’ JAIL FOR BIRMINGHAM GANGSTER WHO ROBBED PH DRIVER IN TERRIFYING ATTACK


A menacing passenger claimed to be a member of a notorious Birm- ingham gang, before threatening and robbing a driver. A booking was made in December 2020 for a woman to be picked up but when the driver arrived a woman and Thomas Lunt both got in, a court heard. During the journey the driver asked who was going to pay and Lunt said it was him but that he had to go to a cash point. The defendant then offered him a bracelet as a surety. The driver phoned his control and was told to keep it until the passenger paid. During the journey the defendant said he had been in prison and was


PHTM JANUARY 2023


a member of the Burger Bar gang, before directing the cabbie to a dead end road. At this point Lunt demanded his bracelet back, leaned over and snatched it off the driver then pulled the handbrake stopping the car. The victim could see he had some kind of object and Lunt said “What would you do if I stabbed you?” The weapon was then held close to the driver’s neck and face and the defendant demanded money and the car keys. In fear the victim gave him the keys along with £140. The defendant climbed on top of him and said: “You are very lucky.” Lunt and the woman then fled but another taxi driver who came to


help saw the defendant, followed him to a petrol station where he was arrested. In a statement the victim said that he had driven taxis for seven to eight years but had stopped working because of what had happened and that he suffered flashbacks. Lunt, 22, from Walsall, who had previously been found guilty of robbery after failing to turn up for his trial, was jailed for 61 months. In passing sentence Judge Heidi Kubic said: “This was a despicable offence committed against a taxi driver, serving the public, in the early hours of the morning when he was vulnerable.”


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