SHAME SHAME
PETERLEE MUM ASSAULTED AND ROBBED BY DRIVER
A mum was dragged from a car by her hair and stamped on in a dispute with a taxi driver over a fare. Aimee Todd was left with a broken foot and a gaping wound to the inside of her foot. Police say she got into the cab outside Sunder- land’s Glass Spider and agreed to pay when they arrived at her Peterlee home as she had run out of cash.
But when they pulled up she discovered she had forgotten her keys, so she promised to set- tle the bill within hours. According to the Peter- lee Mail Aimee said the driver flew into a rage and told her he would keep the iPhone which he grabbed from her. She refused to leave the car as she tried to reason with him. But she said she was pulled from the vehicle
and attacked, with her leg stamped on twice. The attack happened at around 1.40am on Sunday 3 October in Basingstoke Road. The driver of the silver or white saloon taxi kept the iPhone and is described as 40 to 45 years old, balding with short mousey brown hair. Anyone with infor- mation is asked to call Durham Police on 0345 6060365.
MAN JAILED AFTER CRACK COCAINE FOUND IN BRISTOL TAXI
A Bristol man has been jailed after he was stopped in a taxi carrying crack cocaine with a street value of £42,000.
Drug courier Donovan Williams, 47, from Bedminster,
was
arrested in July after being stopped by undercover officers. Williams was jailed for five years and nine months by Judge Michael Longman at Bristol Crown Court. A further 15 people have already been convicted following a police crackdown on the drug gang Williams belonged to. Judge Longman told him: “You were not a kingpin in this conspir- acy - but you certainly played a major role in
the supply of class A drugs to the Bristol area.”
Williams was convict- ed of conspiracy to supply cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin. CCTV played in court showed the moment the vehicle carrying Williams was boxed in by police vehicles and he was dragged out. As well as 20 boxes of crack cocaine recov- ered from the car, and a further ten found elsewhere, £10,000 in cash and drug para- phernalia were recovered from a house in Totterdown, south Bristol. Police also seized £18,000 in cash from a man who had a meet- ing with Williams in Reading.
In total, raids recov- ered £92,000 of drugs, paraphernalia and cash believed to have derived from dealing drugs.
Officers used covert surveillance to tackle the gang Williams belonged to.
The court heard that Williams led a lifestyle which included numer- ous trips overseas. His role in the conspir- acy was to pick up the drugs from London- based contacts. Speaking after the case, Insp Gavin McClory said Williams belonged to “an organ- ised network who were responsible for bring- ing multi-kilo packages of cocaine and heroin and crack cocaine into the city of Bristol”.
PETERBOROUGH DRIVER JAILED FOR 15 MONTHS FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT
A taxi driver who pounced on a female passenger in the back of his cab before kiss- ing her has been jailed for 15 months at Lin- coln Crown Court. According to the Lin- colnshire Echo, Shawky Gabriel, 49, from Stamford, had denied sexually as- saulting the woman last May, but was con- victed following a trial.
Gabriel, described by the prosecution as a man who regarded himself as an Omar Sharif-type character, attacked the woman and then claimed she consented.
The court was told that as a result of the inci- dent, Gabriel’s taxi licence had been revoked.
His barrister Charles Falk said in mitigation
that Gabriel, who oper- ated as Joe’s Taxis, now accepts what he did was wrong.
“He honestly thought she was interested in him. He made an appalling error of judgement, rather than specifically using his position to take advan- tage of her.”
Gabriel was ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.
WARNING TO PARENTS AFTER CORNISH PAEDOPHILE JAILED
Parents were warned last month that their children are not safe from paedophiles even in their own bedrooms. Postman and taxi driver Michael Williams, 29, used Facebook, Bebo and MSN Messenger to groom up to 1,000 chil- dren across Britain. Truro Crown Court heard that as well as using the websites to trick children as young as 11 to perform sex acts in front of web cameras, Williams tar- geted youngsters he met on his post rounds in Penryn, Cornwall, on school runs as a taxi driver and in his role as secretary of a football club.
The court heard that Williams persuaded at least 460 young peo- ple to perform sex acts on webcams, which he
recorded and kept on meticulously cata- logued computer files. Andrew Macfarlane, prosecuting, said: “The defendant has for many years corrupted hundreds of children across the country. He ingratiated himself in the social networking sites of young persons; having gained their confidence, he used questionnaires or sim- ple conversations to encourage hundreds of children under the age of 16 to perform sexual acts for him. “Ironically, in this day and age many parents don’t let their children out at night lest they meet someone like the defendant. Instead, they feel they are safe in their bedroom – but unbeknown to the par- ents, some children
were meeting the defendant using their computers.”
Williams admitted 27 charges including mak- ing indecent images and having sex with a child under 16. He also admitted four charges of inciting 460 children to commit sex acts over the net. However, detectives believe the real number of victims is nearer one thousand, as many are too afraid and embarrassed to come forward.
Prosecutor Andrew Macfarlane told the court: “This was inter- net sex offending on a previously unseen scale.” Jailing Williams for a total of eight and a half years, Judge Paul Darlow told Williams: “Your web of deceit has affected hundreds of children.”
PAGE 36
PHTM NOVEMBER 2010
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 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104
