JUST DESERTS
DOUGLAS MAN FINED FOR RACIST RANT AGAINST ISLE OF MAN TAXI DRIVER
A Douglas resident has been fined £330 after he pleaded guilty to subjecting a taxi driver to a racist and abusive tirade. Brian Yewdall, 67, appeared at Douglas Courthouse and admitted to using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour.
The court heard that the incident occurred just after midnight on August 23, when Yewdall entered a taxi on Victoria Street. He questioned the driver’s origins, asking “where he was from” and “is he even legal,” before querying “what’s wrong with your country.”
Yewdall then refused to pay his fare, prompting the driver to take him to Police Headquarters. The rant continued there, where he asked officers if the driver was “even legal” and questioned: “what’s wrong with the Manx people, why are we losing to them?”
GLENROTHES WOMAN JAILED FOR 40 MONTHS AFTER KNIFE POINT ATTACKS ON TAXI DRIVERS
A woman has been sentenced to 40 months in prison for a series of violent robberies targeting three different taxi drivers in Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. Claire Duncan, 31, who was already on five bail orders, admitted to the attacks that occurred over a six- week period. According to Depute Fiscal Sarah Smith, Duncan’s
crime spree began on April 2 when she
assaulted a male taxi driver by “seizing him by the neck, holding a sharp object against his neck to his injury” before robbing him of £170. On May 9, she attacked a female taxi driver, lunging at her and placing a knife with a “12-inch blade” against her neck. A struggle ensued, and Duncan stole nearly £300 in takings. On May 12, she assaulted another male driver, repeatedly striking
and scratching him during an attempted robbery. Witnesses heard the driver shouting: “Let me go. She’s robbed me, Help!” The defence solicitor conceded these were “terrible crimes” born from “desperation for money” to feed a crack addiction. Sheriff James Williamson agreed, stating: “These are terrible offences to put people through these traumatic experiences.”
MONKEY DUST USER JAILED FOR STEALING CABBIE’S CAR IN STOKE-ON-TRENT BURGLARY
A woman with 111 previous convictions, high on “monkey dust,” has been sentenced to 34 months in jail after breaking into a cabbie’s home to steal his cab. Geraldine Grocott,
39, pleaded
guilty to burglary, theft, driving while disqualified, and driving without insurance. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard that Grocott “could not remember” the incident due to
her
“intoxicated state.” Prosecutor Barry White, said the
PHTM OCTOBER 2025
victim parked his Toyota Prius taxi, valued at £12,000, outside his Small- thorne home at 2am on July 13. When he woke up, his home had been burgled, with perfume, £40 in cash, and his taxi keys all stolen. Inside the cab were his passport, taxi badge, and an immigration card. Grocott, described as “struggling
to drive,” was later seen getting out of the damaged vehicle with items from the house. Her DNA was found inside the victim’s home. The taxi was found with £1,500 worth of damage. Judge Richard McConaghy noted that Grocott had been sentenced for five previous home burglaries. “You know full well... precisely what an invasion it is into a person’s life,” he told Grocott before sentencing her and handing down a 17-month driving ban..
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