This in the Local Paper....
A DEVONPORT father-of-two stole purses from four women while working as a city taxi driver, a court heard.
Two of the alleged victims were in their eighties and a third a pensioner of 67, prosecutor Michael Brabin QC told Plymouth Crown Court.
On three of the four occasions, Dale Rode got into the women's homes by asking to use the toilet, he said.
Rode denies four charges of theft.
Fiona Bishop, 40, gave evidence that Rode was a friend who would pop round for a chat and a cup of tea, as well as being her taxi driver on occasions.
She said that on October 23, 2007, she drew £300 from a cash machine to pay overdue fines.
She also had £30 in her purse.
Her nail technician came round and she paid her £28.
Rode then visited just after noon and she took him out a cup of tea.
He asked her to wait in the cab so she could press a button to accept a fare if a call came through from control while he went inside to use her toilet.
He was in the house no more than 10 minutes, she said, but within minutes of him leaving discovered her purse and the £300 was missing from the living-room.
Then followed statements from Margaret Udy, 81, and Mary Buchanan, 83, both too frail to attend court.
Mrs Udy said that on November 16, 2007, Rode collected her from a bungalow in Derriford.
He asked to use the toilet and then stood on the doorstep while she went to the bathroom.
She then discovered her purse, containing £15, was missing from the hall.
Mrs Buchanan's statement said that on April 12, 2008, Rode collected her from her warden-controlled flat in Efford.
Someone let Rode through the communal front door, and he came to her flat door and asked to use the toilet.
When they arrived in Plymouth, she could not find her purse. When she got home two hours later, her flat was secure but there was no sign of it.
Ford woman Maureen Broome, 67, said she was collected from the Co-op in Wolseley Road by Rode. He carried her bags up her path, but at her front door she saw he had her purse in his left hand.
He said he had not taken it, returned to his taxi and produced the purse, saying it was in the rear footwell.
Mrs Broome called the police and the taxi company.
From the witness box, Rode, aged 35 and of Peel Street, said Mrs Bishop had later told him that she had made up the story about the stolen £300 to avoid paying her fines.
He categorically denied stealing any of the purses.
Rode told the court that people frequently left valuables in his cab and he had always returned them to the passenger, the taxi company or the police.
The court heard that Rode, currently a factory worker with a partner and two children, had no previous convictions, cautions or warnings.
Edward Bailey, for Rode, read out two testimonials, one from a former policeman who had known Rode since childhood.
The jury is expected to deliver its verdicts today.
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Ta ... ticle.html
I think rather than Taxi Driver, he was a PH Driver.
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