JUST DESSERTS
JAILED: DUDLEY MAN WHO ATTACKED TAXI DRIVER AND TRIED TO SET CAB ALIGHT
A Dudley man launched a savage and callous attack on a taxi driver after refusing to pay him. Stephen
Small,
along with another man who got into the cab in the town
centre in Stour- bridge , asked to be taken to a petrol station, then on to Small’s home on Hallchurch Road. According to Birm- inghamLive,
the
violent 22-year-old refused to pay the
fare on arrival and subsequently at- tacked the driver, stealing his PDA device and cash from his pocket. He then tried to set
the vehicle
ablaze. A witness called
MANCHESTER DRIVERS LURED INTO MACHETE ROBBERIES
Three baby-faced thugs went on a vicious
summer
crime spree last year luring taxi and food delivery drivers into their machete-arm- ed ambush trap. The trio have been locked up over their three-month ram- page through Man- chester,
in which
they attacked terri- fied victims and took their cash and cars. Now Kyle Cheet- ham,
17, Declan
Steele, 15, and Kye Harrison, 14, can be named after a judge lifted reporting res- trictions. The Manchester Eve- ning News reports that the teens have been handed de- tention orders over the crime spree in north Manchester between July and September 2018. Prosecutor Anya Horwood described to Manchester Crown Court during their sentencing
last
month how the trio would lie in wait for
MAY 2019
their unsuspecting victims. “The offending in- volved a deliberate targeting of taxi and food delivery drivers who were responding to tele- phone requests for service. “The defendants would wait for the arrival of the driver and then threaten or assault the vic- tim with weapons, demanding money and keys. On two occasions knives were used to inflict injury. “The offences oc- curred at night time, when the vic- tim was isolated and the defendants attacked as
a
group.” The
brought to justice over
through Blackley and
thanks to a combi- nation of forensic and phone evidence. It emerged in court that the trio were part of a larger gang and were
trio were their spree Middleton
responisble for 18 crimes,
including
robbery and two woundings. One taxi driver told police that he suf- fers flashbacks of the attack. Another later told police that he felt he was lucky to sur- vive. Judge Driver QC said the court had the ‘unhappy task’ of sentencing three such young defen- dants. Harrison was hand- ed three and a half years’ detention in custody after he admitted six rob- beries, seven counts of possessing an offensive weapon, theft, and two counts of wounding. Cheetham was given four and a half years’ deten- tion in custody after he pleaded guilty to six counts of rob- bery, one of at- tempted robbery, five counts of pos- sessing an offensive weapon and two woundings.
ROBBER WHO TASERED HERTS DRIVER JAILED
An armed robber who tasered a taxi driver during a vio- lent crime spree has been jailed. The Watford Ob- server reports that Paul Evans, 26, from Slough, carried out a string of rob- beries in Watford, Three Rivers dis- trict, and Surrey, between August and November of last year. His ruthless attacks, which mostly tar- geted taxi drivers, put him towards the top of Hertfordshire Co n s t a b u l a r y ’ s most wanted list - and the game was up when police spotted him in Wat- ford. Evans armed him- self with a knife and Taser to steal bank cards, cash, and mobile phones.
His spree began in Slough, Berkshire, when he burgled a property in August. Then he moved over to Watford where he pleaded guilty to being in possession of a stolen Audi A6. He also stole number plates from an Audi A4. Not content with that, Evans escalat- ed his crime, at- tacking a taxi driver in Rickmansworth. Evans tasered him before robbing him of some cash. The following day, a second taxi driver was threatened – this time in Sarratt. His weapon of choice this time was a knife and Evans was able to flee with cash, bank cards, and a mobile phone.
Evans’ criminal
activity then took him to Egham where he once again robbed a taxi driver at knifepoint in October, stealing a phone and cash. On November 12, after a foot chase, Evans was arrested and
charged with three offences
initially and
remanded in cus- tody but further investigation con- nected him to a number of other incidents. Evans was charged with 12 offences including burglary, knifepoint robber- ies, theft, and han- dling stolen goods. Last month, he admitted all of the charges
against
him and was sen- tenced to 11 years in prison.
69
police who then launched an investi- gation to find Small. He has since been jailed for his brutal offences. A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “A man has been jailed for four and a half years for assaulting a taxi driver in 2017. “The driver picked up Stephen Small, aged 22, and anoth- er man in Stour-
bridge town centre, and drove the them to a nearby petrol station on 3 Febru- ary. “They asked to be taken to Small’s address on Hall- hurch Road, Dudley but on arrival they refused to pay the full fare. “Stephen
Small
then launched an attack on the 44- year-old taxi driver, stole
his PDA device, took money
from his pocket, and even tried to set the taxi on fire. “A passer-by wit- nessed the assault and called police. “An investigation was launched, and CCTV identified Small as the prime suspect. He was subsequently ar- rested and charged with robbery. “He was sentenced on Tuesday 2 April after being found guilty.”
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