Taxi Driver Online

Aveley cabby denies he was getaway driver for stabbing



A TAXI driver has denied being the getaway driver for two men involved in a knife attack.

Robert Knight told a jury he did drive the men to Clacton from South Ockendon but was simply the driver.

Others involved may have used earlier trips he made as "reconnaissance missions" but he was not involved in this.

"I was not the getaway driver," Knight told Chelmsford Crown Court.

Knight was giving evidence in his trial with three others on a charge of planning to kill Jamie Usedon at his home in Dudley Road, Clacton.

The prosecution has alleged Knight, Dale Frame, Daniel Yates and Edwin Schreech-Powell, all from Thurrock, conspired to kill Mr Usedon in March this year.

They all deny the charge.

The trial has heard Mr Usedon, a 23-year-old demolition worker was on his way home after working a night shift when the incident took place shortly after 6am on March 15 this year.

He received multiple stab wounds and only survived thanks to the quick actions of neighbours and paramedics.

Yates, 40, of Araglen Avenue, South Ockendon, and Frame, 25, of Broxbourn Drive, South Ockendon, are alleged to have been the knifemen who had been driven to the scene by Knight, 50, of Lowlands Road, Aveley.

Schreech-Powell, 30, of Garth Road, South Ockendon, is alleged to have planned the operation.

Knight told the jury he had made three trips to Clacton before the attack and got the impression the others wanted to find a man who later turned out to be Mr Usedon.

He did not see the knife attack and at no time did he see any weapons, Knight said.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson told Knight: "You were reliable, you had a taxi, a vehicle that would not attract suspicion in the early hours, you were prepared to involve yourself in crime."

Knight replied: "No, no. I was not the getaway driver."

Earlier, the trial heard how Knight dropped Frame off at Basildon hospital as he had been injured during the incident.

He then went home and used Vanish stain remover to get Frame's blood off the back seat of his taxi.

*The trial continues.

http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/news/1 ... _stabbing/

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