Middlesbrough man locked up for taking driver's taxi A TAXI driver’s life was turned upside down by a selfish burglar who took his cab and smashed it into a lamp post.
The cabbie said he couldn’t work since his car was written off by the house intruder who took it while the family slept.
A court heard of the emotional and financial effects of the drink and drug-fuelled burglary in the dead of night.
The self-employed taxi driver said he since struggled to pay his bills and was £400 a week out of pocket with a £5,000 insurance shortfall.
He said the crime also had a terrible effect on his three children, one of whom has autism, making them nervous and unable to sleep.
He told of the family’s distress in a statement read at Teesside Crown Court.
The man responsible for the family’s misery was Dean Francis Knight.
He was jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Knight, 25, burgled the home on Buckingham Drive, Normanby, Middlesbrough and took the car to get home, along with a handbag and laptop.
He drove off in the Fiat Doblo taxi and crashed it into a lamp post on nearby Flatts Lane, said prosecutor Beverley Dawes yesterday.
The vehicle was found on its side with more than £14,000 damage. The stolen goods were found inside with Knight’s tobacco tin.
Knight kicked a window and climbed out of the wreckage.
When arrested, he told police he’d been drinking and taken heroin when he decided to go for a walk and took the car.
He said he panicked when another taxi pulled up alongside, he sped off and lost control.
Knight, of Midville Walk, Netherfields, Middlesbrough, admitted burglary, aggravated vehicle taking and motoring offences - all in breach of numerous court orders.
He had 98 previous offences on his record including burglaries and taking vehicles.
Rachel Dyson, defending, said Knight felt “horrible”, was deeply sorry and ashamed and knew he deserved a longer prison term than ever before.
He couldn’t explain his actions and realised their impact on the taxi driver’s family.
Judge Peter Bowers told Knight: “On any view this was extremely serious. It was totally selfish. You wanted a car to get home.
“It’s had a profound effect on it’s victim and his family.
“The children of your victim and the victim himself have suffered greatly as a result of you going into their home in the dead of night.
“I take the view that this falls into the most serious bracket for domestic burglaries.”
He said Knight’s driving was reckless and dangerous to the public, adding: “You were lucky to escape.”
He jailed Knight for three-and-a-half years.
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