Taxi Driver Online

Two men jailed after CCTV caught them attacking taxi driver

TWO men caught on CCTV attacking a Northfleet taxi driver in his cab have been jailed for 18 months. Stephen Richardson, aged 34, and 21-year-old Gavin Clark were sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm and affray.

A CCTV camera, one of many installed inside taxis across Gravesham after cabbie Gian Chand Bajar was murdered by passenger Luke Aujila in 2007, recorded the attack on 46-year-old Steve West. After watching the footage of Richardson repeatedly punching, headbutting and strangling Mr West, and Clark then throwing two punches at the helpless driver, Judge Andrew Patience called them “wicked”.

He said: “You set upon him, causing him unpleasant injuries and at one stage leading him to think he might not survive. “The CCTV in the cab was installed as the result of the murder of one of his colleagues, and thank goodness it was because you pleaded guilty as a result of the evidence.”

The assault took place outside The Crown in Perry Street, Northfleet, at around 10.30pm on April 24. Richardson, of Greenhill Road, Gravesend, was drinking outside the pub with a group of friends including his younger brother, Bill, the court heard.

Mr West was driving along Perry Street when Bill Richardson suddenly stumbled into the road in front of the cab and was knocked to the ground. As Mr West called for an ambulance from the driver’s seat, Stephen Richardson lunged at him through the passenger door.

Richardson repeatedly punched Mr West before grabbing him by the throat and headbutting him in the nose, as a group of people including two women tried to restrain him. While this was taking place, Clark, of Snelling Avenue, Northfleet, came out of the pub and joined in the attack.

Timothy Banks, mitigating, said Clark was drunk at the time and “there was no reason” why he assaulted the helpless driver. After the attack, Mr West was found on the ground, covered in blood, with a footprint on the back of his head. The assault left him with black eyes and cuts and bruises.

In court, prosecutor Andrew Espley read out a statement Mr West had made to the police in which he described the terrifying ordeal. He said: “I thought I was going to die. I was thinking of my children, because I thought I was going to die.”

The conviction of Richardson and Clark was the first secured using footage from CCTV cameras installed after the murder of 71-year-old grandfather Mr Bajar.

United Taxi Group, which represents cabbies in Gravesham, spearheaded the CCTV scheme. Chairman Terry James said: “We hope these convictions send a message to anyone who is thinking of attacking a taxi driver.”

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