JUST DESERTS
18 MONTHS’ JAIL FOR KNIFEMAN WHO CHANGED HIS MIND ABOUT ROBBING OXFORD CABBIE
A cabbie was threatened at knifepoint before his drug-addled assailant changed his mind about robbing him. The Oxford Mail reports that knifeman Brandon King, who was said to have turned to drugs after the tragic death of his brother, ordered the cab to pick him up in Headington on May 3 intend- ing to rob the driver during the journey to Blackbird Leys. The 20-year-old thought better of robbing him. But when the driver asked when he lived, King pulled out a knife and held it to the cabbie.
Jailing the Witney man for 18 months at Oxford Crown Court, Judge Michael Gledhill QC said: “There is a very, very small dif- ference between threatening some- body with a knife and stabbing [them]. “He would have been utterly petrified that you were going to stab him.
Fortunately, you went no further than threatening him.” The offence was so serious that only an immediate prison sentence would fit the crime, the judge said. He acknowledged King’s grief over the untimely death of his brother. Judge Gledhill said: “You should be thoroughly ashamed of what you’ve done.” King, from Witney, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to threatening another with a knife in Blackbird Leys, and making off without payment.
CABBIE ATTACKED AND TOLD HE WOULD BE SHOT IN TERRIFYING NEWCASTLE ROBBERY
A cabbie was subjected to a terrifying ordeal at the hands of three thugs. ChronicleLive reports that CCTV in a lift shows Gary Spencer, Sean Westerby and Andre Ansell “bouncing” around, seemingly under the influence of something, as they go out to a cab . Newcastle Crown Court heard that in August 2020 Spencer rang for a cab to his home in Shieldfield, Newcastle, around 3am. The taxi driver was wait- ing when he became aware of three men approaching it and two of them, Ansell and Westerby, got in the back. Spencer tried to get in the front but the door was locked. When the driver put the window down to say he couldn’t sit in the front due to covid rules, Spencer reached in through the window and unlocked the door and got in. Jane Foley, prosecuting, said Westerby then got out of the back while Spencer calmly said to the driver: “Give me money. We are dealing cocaine. I will shoot you.”
She added: “Spencer took hold of the handbrake and pulled it so it couldn’t be released and Westerby began kicking the vehicle, causing damage.
JULY 2022
Spencer punched the driver to the back of the neck before reaching across him and opening the driver’s door. He repeated his demand for money, saying ‘give me money or I will shoot you’.” The cabbie handed over £80 in notes and Spencer also took £10 in coins from the central console. Meanwhile Westerby further kicked and hit the car and stole his keys. A witness contacted police and they found Spencer and Ansell hiding in a nearby garden. Spencer refused to hand over his phone and kicked an offi- cer in the groin and Ansell was found to have a screwdriver and the car keys.
The court heard some £850 damage was caused to the taxi and the driver lost three days of takings, amounting to £300, as well as the stolen £90. Spencer, 28, has 47 previous convic- tions, Answell, 23, has seven previous convictions and Westerby, 20, has two previous convictions. The trio, all from Newcastle, were originally charged with robbery but prosecutors accepted their guilty pleas to affray and theft. Spencer also admitted assaulting a police officer and Westerby pleaded guilty to criminal damage. Spencer was jailed for 21 months, West- erby got 21 months suspended for two years with 80 hours unpaid work and Ansell got 19 months suspended for two years with 80 hours unpaid work. Judge Julie Clemitson said to have one man kicking his driver’s door and window while another sat beside him calmly threatening to shoot him would have been frightening. She added: “I’ve no doubt he would have been terrified out of his wits with three men, apparently under the influ- ence of drugs, demanding money and threatening his life.”
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