JUST DESERTS


THORNABY-ON-TEES THUG WHO LEFT CABBIE FEARING FOR HIS LIFE JAILED FOR SIX YEARS


A thug who left a taxi driver fearing for his life as he forced him to drive while holding a seven-inch blade to his neck has been locked up. Teesside Crown Court heard how Brooklyn Dougan, 21, was told by the cabbie that he wasn’t working. The defendant pulled out a knife and the taxi driver could feel it at the back of his neck. Shaun Dryden, prosecuting, said: “Throughout the course of the journey, he held the knife to the driver’s neck and at one point put his arm around his neck and the driver saw that it was a seven-inch blade with a serrated edge.


“The defendant pulled the handbrake on the taxi, demanded cash and his mobile phone before jumping out of the car.” The taxi driver told police he was ‘99 per cent sure he was going to die’ during the incident. Dougan was identified by a PCSO who watched CCTV footage. Dougan, of Thornaby,


pleaded


guilty to attempted robbery and possession of a bladed article following the incident on March 13.


He also pleaded guilty to burglary. Judge Andrew


Hatton told


Dougan it didn’t matter that his robbery attempt was unsuccessful as the taxi driver genuinely feared for his life. He added: “You had a knife to the man’s throat, the fact you didn’t take any money from his pocket and simply left with a bag from the footwell makes no difference to the offence. “Undoubtedly, the taxi driver feared for his life.” Dougan was jailed for a total of six years after a suspended sentence for four shop thefts was activated.


CARLISLE MAN JAILED FOR FIVE MONTHS AFTER PUNCHING CABBIE AND SPITTING AT POLICE


A man grabbed and punched a Carlisle taxi driver after being arrested and bailed earlier for spitting in the faces of two police officers. Police were initially called out in May in response to reports that Elijah Ali, 33, was drunk and being confrontational. Prosecutor Steven Ball told Carlisle Crown Court: “The defendant was extremely aggressive with the officers, resisting them, lashing out, threatening to knock him out and bite them.” Ali spat directly into the face of one male PC and was restrained and placed in a spit hood. But when this was removed, he then spat at a female PC. Having been bailed, Ali got into more trouble on June 27 as he got into a taxi at Carlisle’s Court Square. Ali appeared intoxicated,


PHTM SEPTEMBER 2023


causing the taxi driver concern. “He (Ali) grabbed him around the throat and punched him in the stomach,” said Mr Ball. As police were called, Ali, of no


fixed address, tried to bite one officer. He admitted four separate assaults and was sentenced at the crown court to five months jail.


KILWINNING BILKER WHO JUMPED OUT OF TAXI TO PAY COMPENSATION


A fare dodger threatened to kill a Prestwick cabbie before jumping out of the vehicle in a bid to evade a £40 charge for his journey. Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard Neil Farquhar, 41, had only handed over £10 of the fare agreed to take him from Prestwick to Kilwinning. Farquhar appeared in court for sentencing after admitting mak- ing threats to kill, culpable and reckless conduct,


hiring a taxi


without paying and causing the taxi driver alarm in the early hours of January 29 this year. He was ordered to pay £430 in compensation to


the driver,


including the remaining fare and £20 victim surcharge. Sheriff Alistair Watson said: “This is extremely serious but it appears you have not been in trouble before. This must have been very distressing for the driver.”


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