IN THE NEWS
TWO BLACKBURN CABBIES WERE HELD AT KNIFEPOINT BEFORE ROBBER CAUGHT ON WHATSAPP
A man who robbed two Blackburn cabbies at knifepoint was caught after his victim entered his phone number into WhatsApp and found his profile picture. According to LancashireLive, Suhail Mitha, 30, held up cabs on January 31 and February 8, demanding cash and the drivers’ mobile phones. Mitha has now been jailed for 45 months after pleading guilty to robbery and possession of a bladed article. In the first robbery, Mitha used an inca- pacity spray to attack the driver, before pulling out a small pocket knife. He then drove away in the taxi when the driver got out to apprehend him. In the second robbery, Mitha produced a 12 inch kitchen knife and held it to his victim’s throat, demanding the cash
bag and the driver’s mobile phone. But on February 8 a colleague of the first victim entered the phone number, used to book the cab, into WhatsApp and pulled up Mitha’s profile picture. The image, along with the phone num- ber and booking details were passed to the police and Mitha was caught. Lisa Worsley, prosecuting, said both victims suffered flashbacks as a result of their ordeals. One driver feared he would never see his children again when the knife was held to his throat. The other had sold his six seater cab and exchanged it for a hatchback as he could no longer face the pressure of having too many passengers. Richard English, defending, said Mitha came from a “thoroughly decent” fam-
ily and had worked since the age of 11. He held a management role but had fallen into heroin addiction after a botched shoulder operation following a motorcycle crash in India in 2019. As a result of the operation, Mitha started self medicating with class A drugs and alcohol, lost his home and used all his savings. “His only way of getting money was to take it from other people”, Mr English said.
Judge Simon Medland QC, sentencing, said: “You found yourself literally and figuratively in the gutter behaving like this to two decent lads, who were doing a public service as cabbies help- ing people to get around.” Mitha also received six months jail to run concurrently for the knife possession.
VIKING 5 TAXIM ThMihe Mirror Reror R
l 5 year guarantee l TfL approved
l European MID approved Red The Viking 5
l Auto dim for night use l Printer and data output l 50 smart tariffs
TA M SETER
The Mirror Bo Blue l Over 100 UK dealers
l PCB conformal coated l Clock calendar control
0161 628 4093 www 14
w..vikingtaximeters.com l
sales@vikingtaximeters.com NOVEMBER 2021
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
