JUST DESERTS


EGREMONT MAN JAILED FOR MORE THAN THREE YEARS FOR ROBBING TAXI DRIVER AT KNIFE POINT


A west Cumbrian man has been jailed for three years and four months for robbing a taxi driver at knifepoint. Curtis Baron, 27, from Egremont, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. In the early hours of Saturday, 16 December 2023, Baron got a taxi with another man from White- haven. The taxi dropped the other man off in Mirehouse before continuing on to Egremont. When the taxi arrived and the driver requested payment for the fare, Baron brandished a knife at


the taxi driver’s neck, demanding money and threat- ening his life. Baron then stole between £60-80 from the driver and threatened him if he contacted the police. Following the report officers conducted arrest enquiries at his home address and found Baron hiding in an attic where he was arrested. Officers carried out a search of the address and located


the money bag and the knife. Det Con Alex Chalker investigating the case, said: “Baron subjected the victim to a terrifying ordeal whilst he was doing his job. “The use of a knife to intimidate people is completely unaccept- able, and if used can have fatal consequences. “We hope this sends a clear message to anyone making a conscious decision to carry a knife or commit this type of offence that we will do everything we can to bring criminals to justice.”


THUG WHO TOLD WAKEFIELD CABBIE HE’D ‘DO HIM’ THEN STOLE TAKINGS JAILED FOR TWO YEARS


A thug who was out celebrating his birthday robbed a taxi driver and told him he was going to “do him” in a disagreement over a fare. Prosecutor Duncan Ritchie told Leeds Crown Court, the victim - a driver for a company based in Pontefract - picked up a fare at around 2.30am from Wakefield to Knottingley in January this year. Gareth Richards, 44, and his partner got into the taxi and upon reaching their destination paid £10. Mr Ritchie said: “The arrangement, it seems, would be that the driver would wait for them to return to Wakefield. Around five minutes later, while still waiting, he was approached by the defendant. The defendant demanded change from the £10 he had previously given and he [the driver] replied that there wasn’t any change due to the defendant.


PHTM MAY 2024


“He put it that the defendant then became argumentative and said he was owed £6. The defendant then went into the car and grabbed the bag with the driver’s takings. “There was a tussle between the two during which the defendant pushed the driver and said he was going to ‘do him.’ “He [the driver] took that as being a threat of violence. The defendant managed to wrestle the bag from him and run off.” It was said the bag contained around £70 in cash. The driver was said to have suffered a “slight graze” and it was said in court the incident lasted between five and ten minutes and described as being “very scary.” The court heard Richards had


previous convictions for offences of threatening behaviour, breach of a suspended sentence and a robbery in 1997. He was on licence at the time of the robbery, which he indicated a guilty plea to at the magistrates’ court. Mitigating, Christopher Morton, said: “The background was a disagreement that he accepts and he accepts he was intoxicated. “The distance [between locations] is a couple of miles and the understanding was it would be a £10 return journey so he thought he would get some change. “It was a spur of the moment offence - there was no pre- planning for that matter.” His Honour Judge Khan KC jailed Richards for two years and said: “This wasn’t planned. It was clearly something that happened without any real thought and while you were in drink.”


11


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