Taxi Driver Online

Wavertree taxi driver guilty of Calderstones Park rape

A TAXI driver has been found guilty of raping a woman as she walked her dog in a park.

Jurors took just three hours to unanimously convict Stephen Ord, 37, of the early-morning attack on the 58-year-old woman at Calderstones Park.

He was also convicted of assaulting a 77-year-old woman as she walked to a coffee morning through Northway Park less than two weeks earlier. The Liverpool Crown Court jury of eight women and four men found him guilty of assault by beating the pensioner on March 30 and committing that act intending to commit a sexual offence, as well as the rape on April 11.

Ord, of Acuba Road, Wavertree, showed no emotion as the verdicts were delivered.

But some of his supporters in the public gallery broke down.

Relatives of the rape victim, who had bravely sat through the trial, also wiped away tears as Ord was convicted.

During a week of evidence, several jurors appeared visibly shocked when they heard of Ord's long-standing interest in violent rape films and websites.

Judge David Harris QC thanked the jury for their careful consideration of the “complex issues”. He adjourned sentencing until November 5 so reports could be carried out on the long-haired cabbie. But he warned Ord, who is thin with a sallow complexion, he was facing a very long time behind bars.

He said: “It is inevitable there will be a very substantial period of imprisonment at the very least.”

He added: “An extremely worrying issue in this case is the violent pornography.

“It has to be said the defendants attempts to defend himself, which were very sophisticated, has implications for the level of risk.”

Ord had denied all three offences, but jurors heard he had pounced on the pensioner in the first attack after she greeted him in the street.

But he fled after she began to scream.

Less than two weeks later, his second victim was walking her dogs when he struck again. He punched her to the ground, before sitting astride her and raping her. But he ran away after his victim bit him. When he was arrested two days later, he had a bruise on his private parts.

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Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin

Liverpool taxi driver found guilty of raping a dog walker has written a letter saying sorry to his victims

A TAXI driver found guilty of raping a dog walker, despite pleading his innocence, has written a letter to say sorry.

Stephen Ord, 37, was due to be sentenced for the rape of a 58-year-old women in Calderstones Park and the assault of a 77-year-old woman as she walked to a Northway Park.

But yesterday Judge David Harris QC adjourned the sentencing at Liverpool crown court to allow for physiological tests on Ord.

Judge Harris read out a letter written by Ord, in which he apologised for “not being enough of a man to plead guilty.”

Ord, of Acuba Road, Wavertree, wrote: “It was cowardly and despicable and they now have to live with the horror of what I did for the rest of their lives.”

He said cocaine and alcohol had put him in a downward spiral and changed his personality.

He also apologised for letting his family down with his “despicable crime.”

Judge Harris said he would weight up a pre-sentence report suggesting Ord is still a dangerous offender with his “acceptance of the gravity of his action and his potential to engage in prison programmes.”

Judge Harris said: “It’s very unusual for somebody who fights a case so firmly as Mr Ord to acknowledge he was effectively telling a pack of lies and set out to deceive the jury.”

He said he’d access the sincerity of the letter and told the victims they were brave for re-living their experience in court and bringing Ord to justice.

_________________
Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.
George Carlin