DESSERTS...


COMMUNITY ORDER FOR CUSTOMER WHO HIT STOKE CABBIE


Jobless Christopher Cartlidge beat up a taxi driver over a dis- puted fare. The 26-year-old also stole £38 from Abdul Kalik after assaulting him in his taxi, at the end of a night of drink- ing. But Cartlidge,


from


Basford, avoided a prison sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court after entering last-minute guilty pleas to assault by beating and theft on the second day of his trial. Cartlidge from, Basford, previously denied the offences but entered


last-minute guilty pleas at his trial. The Stoke Sentinel reports that the Judge sentenced Cartlidge to a 12-month communi- ty order, and told him to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and to pay Mr Kalik £500 in compensation.


THUG GETS SIX YEARS FOR ATTACK ON WOLVERHAMPTON DRIVER


A thug was jailed for six years for attacking a taxi driver and trying to escape in the vic- tim’s cab. Tyrone Barnes was among a group of men who got into the vehi- cle


on the


Wolverhampton city centre taxi rank, the prosecutor said. According to the


Wolverhampton Chro- nicle, the 22-year-old was in the front passen- ger seat of the vehicle and when it came to a stop, kicked out at the driver Mohammed Savri, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard. Mr Savri fled the cab but Barnes followed him and punched him twice in the face, frac-


turing a cheek bone. He demanded the keys to the taxi from Mr Savri who was also forced to hand over £60 cash. Barnes tried to drive off but could not release the handbrake. Barnes, who had previ- ous convictions for robbery and burglary, was found guilty of rob- bery and vehicle taking.


JAIL FOR MAN WHO ROBBED SLOUGH DRIVER


A 24-year-old man has been jailed for robbing a taxi driver. According to the Slough


Observer,


Adam Hunter, 24, from Iver, was sentenced to two years in prison at Aylesbury


Crown


Court after a jury found him guilty of robbery. Last July Hunter was


picked up by a 30- year-old taxi driver after an evening out drinking in Slough. Hunter started to racially abuse the Asian driver, threaten- ing to steal his car. When the pair arrived in Iver, Hunter pulled up the handbrake of the vehicle, head-


butted the victim and snatched his iPhone and £200 before flee- ing. The taxi driver man- aged to flag down a passing police car and Hunter was arrested and charged with rob- bery. He was found guilty at the hearing in April.


NEWCASTLE ‘CAB JACKER’ GETS TWO YEARS IN JAIL


A taxi driver was left grounded for two days after a fare-dodging robber hijacked his cab. Abdul Ghoni picked up Alan Rothwell and James Laing and dropped them off at Byker. But the pair began arguing over who was paying the fare, Newcastle Crown Court heard. After Mr Laing walked away,


Rothwell JULY 2012 PHTM


ordered Mr Ghoni from the cab, climbed into the driver’s seat and sped away. Witnesses later saw the Peugeot veering erratically into a parking space before watching the driver flee towards the Quayside. The “cab jacking” left Mr Ghoni not only nervous but counting the cost as he lost two days’ work while the taxi was in storage for forensic examination.


He was also out of pocket for the fare and buying a new key. According to the New- castle upon Tyne Evening Chronicle, Rothwell, from New- castle, was arrested still on the Quayside with a sat nav and camera from the cab. The 24 year old admit- ted staging the robbery on August 15 last year. He was given a two- year prison sentence.


MAN WHO PUNCHED PLYMOUTH CABBIE GIVEN SUSPENDED SENTENCE


A man who racially abused a Romanian cab


driver and


punched him in the face has been given a suspended


prison


sentence. The Plymouth Herald reports that Gary Stocks, 43, tried to pull the man from his vehicle and hung on to the car door as he


tried to drive away in a panic. Stocks caused dam- age of almost £1,300 to the hackney car- riage’s door, Plymouth magistrates were told. Stocks,


from Ply-


mouth, admitted ra- cially aggravated com- mon assault against Mihai Ticra and racially aggravated criminal


damage to the vehicle. Magistrates gave him a 12-week prison sen- tence suspended for two years and ordered him to do 180 hours’ unpaid work. He was ordered to pay £1,277 in compensa- tion for the door and a further £500 for the cut lip


and distress caused Mr Ticra.


MAN WHO BEAT BOLTON CONTROLLER GIVEN 20-MONTH JAIL SENTENCE


A taxi office worker was beaten with a baseball bat by a dis- gruntled customer. Gary Maher has been jailed for 20 months for attacking Lyma Taxis controller Kevin Hepburn, smashing his elbow. Mr Hepburn needed surgery to insert pins and a metal plate. The Bolton News reports that Joseph Allman, prosecuting, told Bolton Crown Court


that Maher


phoned the Horwich taxi firm in September last year and asked a


driver to pick him up from his home. The driver knocked on the door but left after getting no reply. Half an hour later, Maher, 37, rang Mr Hepburn again demanding to know where the taxi was. Mr Hepburn


explained


what had happened but Maher became abusive, demanding to know the name of the driver. The controller hung up, but five minutes later Maher rang back complaining


telling Mr Hepburn: “You don’t know who I am. I will come back


and


and shoot you.” A short while later, Maher arrived at Lyma’s Winter Hey Lane office in another taxi company’s vehicle and confronted Mr Hepburn. He then went back to the taxi and returned with a baseball bat. He swung it at 49-year-old Mr Hepburn’s head, hitting him on the arm, before heading off to buy vodka. Maher was arrested at his home; the police had to use shields to restrain him after he threatened to kill them.


THUGS SENTENCED FOR ASSAULT ON WORKSOP DRIVER


A drunken thug has been jailed after kick- ing a defenceless taxi driver’s head ‘like a football’ as his friend pinned him down. Nathan McEvoy, 21, was sentenced to five months in prison at Worksop Magistrates’ Court last month for his role in the unpro- voked attack. Both McEvoy and his accomplice Michael Robinson, 23, set upon


taxi driver


Andrew Headland after a dispute over the fare in getting home from a boozy night out in Worksop. The court heard how


the pair entered the taxi with little more than £10 between them. Mr Headland agreed to take them to a cash machine. But there wasn’t one there and, after realising they were not going to hand over any more money, asked them to get out of his car. The pair refused. A tussle ensued result- ing in Robinson straddling Mr Head- land and pinning his arms to his chest. McEvoy then ran round and kicked Mr Headland up to four times to the head and ribs, the court heard.


McEvoy and Robinson denied the charges but were both convict- ed of common assault. The


Judge also


ordered McEvoy to pay £400 compensa- tion to the victim who was left battered and bruised. Robinson was handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months and ordered to complete 150 hours of unpaid work for his part in the act. He was also given a curfew from 8pm to 5am for three months and ordered to pay £200 compensation and £100 costs.


PAGE 63


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