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Taxi driver accused of helping fugitive drug dealer walks free from court6 Feb 2014 16:33

Taxi driver Raymond Fairfield said he had no idea who his fare was a gangster
Liverpool Crown Court

A taxi driver who was accused of helping a fugitive drug dealer flee justice walked free from court after jurors took just an hour to find him not guilty.

Raymond Fairfield, 63, had been accused of driving Liam Johnson from Fazakerley to Southport in the back of his hackney cab despite knowing he was on the run after fleeing the UK while awaiting sentence for selling cocaine in North Liverpool.

But the taxi driver of 32 years experience said he had no idea who Johnson was and had no reason to believe it was anything more than a normal fare.

Mr Fairfield, of Totnes Road, Croxteth , said he was contacted by Joseph Preston, a friend of Liam Johnson's, who arranged for him to take a passenger the following morning, August 7 last year.

Liverpool cabbie: I didn't know my fare was a gangster

He said he picked Johnson up near Fazakerley train station and he got in the car and went straight to sleep with his head over to one side.

It was when they got to Southport he realised something was wrong as police surrounded his cab "like the Sweeney" and dragged him out, with one officer saying: "what are you doing with that scumbag?"

He always denied knowing Johnson was a wanted criminal and said the prosecution was a result of being "stitched up".

Jurors took a little over an hour to unanimously find him not guilty of assisting a person sentenced and unlawfully at large.

Mr Fairfield, a father of five who has been married for 42 years, waved at jurors as he was allowed to leave the dock.

Joseph Preston, 46, who pleaded guilty to the same charges will be sentenced at the end of February.

Liam Johnson, 33, was jailed for eleven years and a month for drugs conspiracy plus six months for jumping bail a few days after his arrest.

It is believed he fled to the continent before returning to the


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