Taxi Driver Online

Hijacked Southport taxi driver taken on two-hour terror ride

AN armed suspect hijacked a taxi driver and took him on a 70-mile, two-hour terror ride.

The man fled in the pre-booked cab after allegedly robbing a vulnerable pensioner at knifepoint in her Merseyside home.

The traumatised Southport cabbie was held hostage as the man forced him to travel southbound on the M6 – threatening to kill him if he bowed to police demands to pull over.

Staffordshire police officers eventually ambushed the car near Stoke, arresting the man by firing tasers.

The daughter of the shaken cab driver – who does not want to be identified – said: “My dad only knew that this man was dangerous after the police radioed the cab office, who then rang my dad and told him what was going on.

“The man told him if he didn’t carry on driving then he’d kill him.

“When the police brought the car to a stop, he put the knife to my dad’s neck and said he’d kill him if the police didn’t back off.

“I’m so glad he managed to get away.

“It’s totally shocking. You would never think going to pick up a fare could result in this.”

The victim of the house robbery, said to be in her mid-60s, was unharmed but left shaken after being threatened with the knife.

The dramatic arrest took place two hours after the man used his victim’s phone to order a taxi to Southport town centre.

Officers equipped with taser guns and a dog patrol team were put in place to intercept the cab.

Staffordshire police inspector Paul Barker, said: "The suspect was seen in possession of a bladed weapon and was threatening the taxi driver.

“Officers used their taser weapon to subdue the suspect and disarm him.”

Paramedics tended to the driver.

Marcus Andrew Leroy Darroue, from Crosby View, Leeds, appeared before magistrates in Sefton yesterday, charged with two counts of aggravated burglary, one count of making threats to kill, one count of affray, one count of possession of an offensive weapon and one count of false imprisonment.

He was remanded in custody ahead of a hearing at Liverpool crown court.


http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/

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