| Taxi Driver Online http://taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/ |
|
| Robber found guilty of axe attack on cabby. http://taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17030 |
Page 1 of 1 |
| Author: | Sussex [ Fri Jun 24, 2011 8:25 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Robber found guilty of axe attack on cabby. |
Axe-threat taxi robber faces lengthy jail term A robber who threatened a taxi driver with an axe has been told to expect a lengthy prison sentence. Wayne Harris was convicted by a jury yesterday of robbing cabbie Darren Cheney of his taxi. He was also found guilty of possessing a knife and an axe during the robbery. Harris (31) denied the charges, claiming it was a case of mistaken identity. The jury of eight men and four women rejected his defence case after more than two hours of deliberations. Harris, whose recent address was a hotel in London Road, Leicester, elected not to give evidence in court, but he told the police in interview he had recently bought Mr Cheney's stolen silver Seat Alhambra. He claimed to have played no part in the robbery. The victim, Mr Cheney, picked out Harris in an identification procedure as the man who robbed him on Thursday, October 14, last year. The Leicester Crown Court hearing was adjourned until July 22, for the preparation of pre-sentence and psychiatric reports. Recorder Nicholas Dean QC remanded Harris back into custody and told him: "This robbery is very serious and the overwhelming likelihood is you're going to go to prison for a long time." During the trial, the court heard how Harris took a train from Leicester to Market Harborough, arriving at about 4.15pm. He took a taxi from the station asking to be taken to Barrow upon Soar. On the way, Harris showed Mr Cheney that he had a knife tucked into his waistband and he then produced a short-handled axe from a plastic carrier bag. Mr Cheney told the jury: "He was very calm throughout. "He told me 'stop the car and get out'. "We were about a mile from Thorpe Langton." Mr Cheney stopped, got out and ran off, taking his mobile phone. He flagged down a passing motorist and called the police as the robber drove off. Mr Cheney told the court that the axeman had a Scottish accent. Catherine Chasemore, prosecuting, said that Harris must have been pretending to be Scottish, to put the police off the scent. Defence counsel James Hett told the jury they could not be sure Harris was the culprit because Mr Cheney claimed the robber had yellow and stained teeth, but Harris had missing front teeth. He also failed to notice, or mention, distinctive tattoos that Harris had on his hands, when the axe was produced. |
|
| Page 1 of 1 | All times are UTC [ DST ] |
| Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/ |
|