MAY 2009
PRIVATE HIRE AND TAXI MONTHLY 109
...DESSERTS
FOUR YEARS FOR DERBY HAMMER RAID TEENAGERS
Two teenage robbers who attacked a taxi driver with a claw ham- mer have been put behind bars. Idnan Khan and Aqib Khan were each sen- tenced to four years in a young offenders’ institution after being convicted unanimously by a jury. Derby Crown Court heard that Idnan had attacked taxi driver Granville Johnson with a claw hammer after grabbing the coin rack from his cab. Idnan, 19, of Derby, hit Mr Johnson on his arms with the weapon after the taxi driver raised themto protect his head. Aqib, 16, of Normanton, then joined in the attack by kicking the cab driver’s legs. According to the Derby Evening Telegraph the court was told that Mr
Johnson had gone to Mount Carmel Street, Derby, after his taxi company had been called from Aqib’s mobile phone on April 13 last year. When he arrived, Idnan pulled open the door, racially insulted himand demanded that he hand over his money. Recorder
Andrew
McLoughlin said: “For- tunately Mr Johnson suffered relativelyminor injuries as a result of the struggle. But he said he feels slightly unsure now when work- ing as a taxi driver, especially at night. “I take this robbery as being premeditated in the sense that Mr John- son was lured to Mount Carmel Street for the full purpose of the rob- bery.” The court heard that Aqib had three previous
convictions for robbery. Mr McLoughlin said: “This seems to be a rel- atively straightforward case of Aqib being the brains behind the com- mission of the robbery and Idnan the muscle behind it.” Anthony Hook,
for
Aqib, said that, since the robbery, the defen- dant had been getting on well at home and at college, where he was doing a course in infor- mation technology. Mr Hook added: “His criminality has largely been connected to the association with crimi- nally-minded peers.” Mark Watson,
THREE AND A HALF YEARS FOR BASILDON PAIR WHO ROBBED CABBIE for
Idnan, said: “He is sus- ceptible to others and, with the greatest respect to him, cannot be associated with being the brains behind this. Aqib made the call.”
EIGHT MONTHS FOR BARRY MAN WHO ASSAULTED DRIVER AND FLED TO SPAIN
A man who started a new life in Spain has been jailed for a crime he committed before he fled the country. Mark Williams left Wales to live in Spain after being accused of attacking a taxi driver in Barry in 2005. But a warrant that had been issued for his arrest was executed when he flew back into Cardiff
Airport in January this year. According to the South Wales Echo, Williams was brought in custody from the city’s jail to Cardiff Crown Court where a judge told him that the length of time that had elapsed since the offence was com- mitted was no reason for him not to receive a prison sentence.
Williams, 35, of Barry, had originally denied the assault charge but was later convicted and jailed for eight months for the assault and a further six months for absconding. His barrister Andrew Morse said he hadn’t left the country immedi- ately. He lived in Barry until 2007 but nobody came to arrest him.
THREE YEARS FOR BOLTON TAXI DRIVER ROBBERS
Teenage robbers who held up taxi drivers with a knife and an imi- tation gun have been jailed for more than three years at Bolton Crown Court. The Bolton Evening News reports that Stephen Wallwork, aged 19, of Kearsley, was sentenced to three years and eight months in a young offenders institution after he pleaded guilty to rob- bery and possessing a knife. He had been charged with a 16-year-old from Salford, who also pleaded guilty to rob-
bery and firearms offences and was sen- tenced to three years and two months in detention. He is already serving an 18-month detention and training order for a separate attempted robbery. The court had previous- ly heard how, on January 13 last year, the pair got into a taxi to be taken to Kearsley. As they reached Kears- ley, Wallwork pulled out what appeared to be a carving knife and the youth produced a firearm, which later was found to be an imitation weapon.
They demanded his money bag, which con- tained £30, and ran off. Four nights later, the teenagers got
into
another taxi and asked again to be taken to Kearsley. As they approached Kearsley, Wallwork pro- duced a knife and his accomplice an imitation firearm.
Wallwork
snatched the driver’s money bag and the youth demanded the driver’s mobile phone. Sentencing the pair, Judge William Morris said: “This must have been terrifying for both these taxi drivers.”
A couple caught red- handed after robbing a cabbie yards from their home have been jailed. Bungling Charlotte Spindler was so high on heroin she even called the same cab firm, A and B Taxis, minutes after the robbery to book another cab. Spindler, 25, and Lee Perryman, 30, were both jailed for three- and-a-half years. Sentencing the pair at Basildon Crown Court, Recorder Garrett Byrne said: “You both pleaded guilty to an extremely serious offence, com- mitted
against
someone who falls into a recognised class of people who are vulnera- ble, a taxi driver. “He was in a state of ter- ror and the incident has continued to have an adverse effect on him.”
Cabbie Gary Cooper, 41, picked up Spindler and Perryman from Southernhay, Basildon, on Saturday February 7. He took them to Old- wyk, Vange, where Spindler held a bottle opener to the driver’s throat. Mr Cooper handed over £45 and watched Spindler run off down an alley towards nearby Dewsgreen, where he saw her go into her house. Mr Cooper called police and when Spindler realised the driver knew where she lived, she ran out of the house and threatened him with a ten-inch carving knife. Police arrived and arrested her. They also arrested
Perryman
nearby, still with the stolen £45 cash. Spindler and Lee Perry- man, who
lived
together in Dewsgreen, both admitted robbery and possessing a blad- ed article. Investigating officer Det Con Lee Drury, of Basildon CID, wel- comed the court’s sentence. He told the Southend Evening Echo: “This was a horrendous attack during which the victimfeared for his life. “But despite his terror, Mr Cooper bravely fol- lowed one of
the
robbers who, unfortu- nately for her, led him and us right to her door. “We will not tolerate violence of any sort, particularly
against
people who are just doing their job, serving the public or where knives are used.” Perryman was also ordered to pay Mr Cooper £45 compensa- tion.
ELEVEN YEARS FOR ROBBERY AND GBH ON HEMEL HEMPSTEAD DRIVER
A brave taxi driver who fought off two robbers has been praised by a judge for his courage. Ian Stuart had part of his ear bitten off and suffered a fractured eye socket during the attack in Hemel Hemp- stead. Judge Michael Baker QC awarded Mr Stuart £250 and commended his actions, saying: “He resisted attempts by the defendants to rob him of his takings late at night. He was in a very vulnerable position.” The judge was speak- ing after jailing Mark Bousfield, 33, of Rom- ford, Essex for 11 years. He passed an extended
sentence
which means Bousfield will be on licence, on his release, for a further three years. He had admitted attempted robbery, causing griev- ous bodily harm with intent and robbery of a second taxi driver. At an earlier hearing his co-defendant Michael Cook, 35, of Ilford, was jailed for ten years for his part in the robbery of Mr Stuart. Prosecutor Sally Meal-
ing-McLeod told St Albans Crown Court that Bousfield and another man robbed taxi driver Rajan Iqbal of his mobile phone and £150 cash on March 8 last year. Then on March 25, 2008, Bousfield got into Mr Stuart’s cab outside Watford police station in Shady Lane. He told Mr Stuart, of Eagle Cabs in Watford, to pick up Cook who was waiting 150 metres down the road. Giving evidence at a trial last year Mr Stuart said that he asked for money up front as the men asked to be taken to Boxmoor in Hemel Hempstead. At Box- moor Bousfield, who called himself John, got out of the cab. Mr Stuart said: “The next thing I knew I had been put in a headlock. The guy behind me had grabbed me. He said: ‘Give me the money or I’ll slit your f****** throat. I knew what I felt against my neck must be a knife. “I grabbed the blade. I thought
Almighty’. It was dark
and I guess it was adrenaline. I was very scared. I pulled the blade forward and he came with it. It was then I felt a pain in my ear. He had bitten off part of my ear and had bitten my head.” The men gave up when people from nearby houses came outside to investigate what was going on. Mrs Mealing-McLeod said Bousfield had 32 previous convictions for 79 offences. Defence barrister John Woodcock said that Bousfield had made progress while being held on remand since his arrest last May. He said he was organising a sponsored run to raise funds for a Creat Ormond Street Charity. In jail he had become a “listener” helping younger and more vul- nerable prisoners and had
advanced
achieved prisoner
‘Christ
status. Jailing him, Judge Baker said: “There is good in you and you seem at last to be mak- ing efforts to mend your ways.”
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