SHAME SHAME


UNLICENSED MIDDLESBROUGH TAXI DRIVER JAILED FOR DECADES OVER SEXUAL OFFENCES


Unlicensed cabbie, Edwin Youll, 63, from Normanby, has been sen- tenced to 32 years in jail at Teesside Crown Court on 13 October, for a string of violent sexual offences. Youll was found guilty in July of 26 charges of sexual assault and rape following a trial. The offences, which date back to the 1990s, involved him targeting vulnerable


women and chil- dren. According to Cleveland Police, he used his job to seek out women and became violent “if they did not do as he commanded,” on occasion using knives in his offending.


DS Stuart Hodgson said: “Firstly I would like to thank the brave victims who came forward and gave harrowing accounts of the horrendous sexual abuse carried out by Edwin Youll.” He added: “Whilst the experiences will stay with them forever, I’m pleased this chapter has come to a close and justice has been served.”


NEWCASTLE CABBIE JAILED FOR NINE YEARS AFTER THROWING HOT OIL AT POLICEMAN


Mohammed Sarfaraz, a 45-year-old taxi driver, has been sentenced to nine years in prison for throwing boiling oil at two police officers, hitting one in the face and chest. The cabbie had previously called police to complain about not being allowed to see his children after the breakdown of his marriage and had been arrested after he refused to leave the area by his former home in Newcastle, during which he kicked at officers. On 17 January, five officers went to a house in Kenton looking for Sarfaraz. His wife told them that he was at his parents’ home in Gosforth, and as they left, they saw her making a phone call which Judge Robert Adams said was her “no doubt warning” Sarfaraz that the police were coming. The court heard that after learning police were on their way, Sarfaraz “deliberately heated a pan of oil” in his parents’ kitchen to create a “highly dangerous weapon.” At the Gosforth home, Sarfaraz’s parents and sister were “obstruc- tive” and “clearly not telling the


PHTM NOVEMBER 2025


truth” when they claimed he was not there. After police “law- fully” entered the house, a female officer found Sarfaraz in the kitchen holding


a pan of boiling oil. As she shouted at him to put it down, two male officers entered, and Sarfaraz swung the pan, striking one officer while the other “narrowly avoided being hit.” Sarfaraz then fled into a garage, where a battering ram was used to enter, and Tasers were fired before he was arrested. During his police interview, Sarfaraz claimed he had heated the oil to cook an egg, but Judge Adams said the officers’ body- worn camera footage showed that to be “clearly untrue.” Sarfaraz was unanimously found guilty by jurors of causing GBH with intent, attempted wounding, and affray following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court.


The injured police officer was left with “permanent scarring on his face and chest,” and there were initial fears he might have been blinded. In a statement read to the court, the officer said he was off work for a month and had to visit a burns unit every 2 or 3 days. He added that his children were “shocked” and “upset” to see his injuries. Judge Adams noted that Sarfaraz still maintained his innocence, having written a 30-page letter to the court in which he blamed police for “terrorising” him and accused social workers of dis- criminating against him because he was a Muslim man. “I don’t accept that,” Judge Adams said. The court heard Sarfaraz had been the suspect in 22 domestic violence


reports and 44 child


concern notifications. The judge also revealed that Sarfaraz had tried to “blackmail” him by saying he would kill himself if given a long prison sentence. “I’m not prepared to be threatened in that way,” Judge Adams said.


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