A killer in waiting.
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| Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24756 |
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| Author: | captain cab [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery |
Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery by night-time South Bank customer Karl Barnes, 23, is jailed for more than four years after hearing how his robbery wrecked his victim's livelihood and left him a 'changed person' A taxi driver’s life was ruined after he was robbed at knifepoint by a night-time passenger. Karl Andrew Barnes was jailed for more than four years after he heard how his crime affected its vulnerable victim. The cabbie said it left him a “changed person”, so scared he had to give up his livelihood. The dad’s wife wants the family to leave the UK because she no longer feels safe. Barnes, 23, grabbed his keys, turned off his car’s ignition and said: “Give me the money.” He held a knife to the taxi driver’s chest, Teesside Crown Court heard today. The drunken passenger was picked up from Dovecot Street, central Stockton on January 30. He asked the driver to stop on Coulthard Court, South Bank then emerged from a home and came to the driver’s window. The taxi driver thought he’d be paid as he wound his window down, said prosecutor Peter Sabiston. Instead Barnes demanded his cash and his phone and spouted racial abuse at him. He robbed the driver of £130 and the phone before he ran off at about 12.40am. He’d fetched the knife from an acquaintance’s home on that street, the court was told. Mr Sabiston said Barnes targeted a vulnerable victim and there was some planning, though only for a few minutes. The taxi driver said he struggled for weeks to leave his home and was “terrified” to go back to work. After three weeks he had to give up the job which supported his wife and daughter. “I was simply scared, scared of going out, scared of going out at night, scared of picking up fares,” he said in a statement. “If I picked up some youngsters it would be enough for me to fear for my safety. I simply couldn’t cope.” He said the robbery affected his confidence and his family, costing him his source of income. “I worked all the hours I could. This has all been taken away,” he added. He said his wife now wanted to uproot the family and return to Romania. “This incident has ruined him, destroyed his life,” said Mr Sabiston. Barnes, of Upper Princess Street, South Bank, initially denied the robbery to police, claiming he was asleep with his girlfriend in Eston at the time. He later admitted robbery and having a bladed article. He had a criminal record since the age of 13 with 45 convictions starting with theft and home burglary. When he was just 15 he was in court for having a small axe in a public place. He was sent to detention at 16 for using a knife to threaten staff and steal a mini-motorbike from a shop in 2007. He was locked up for three years for robbing two boys of their bicycles in 2010. Zoe Passfield, defending, said Barnes called the taxi just wanting to get home under the influence of drink and drugs. He tried and failed to get money to pay the fare, panicked and got the knife on “impulse”. She said: “Even he is at a loss to explain why he did that, or why he then committed the robbery. “No injury was caused.” She added he was struggling with drink and drug use, anxiety and depression at the time and had a long-standing drug problem. He showed remorse, considered the impact on the taxi driver and was quoted as saying: “I simply wish it hadn’t happened. I really feel for him now.” The judge, Recorder Mark McKone, contrasted Barnes with the hard-working taxi driver, described as a vulnerable public servant. He told Barnes: “You have never worked. You’ve funded your lifestyle including drinking and drug-taking by stealing. “This is the third time you’ve been before the courts for robbery. Your last sentence of three years didn’t deter you.” He jailed Barnes for four years and three months, adding: “You’re wasting your life in prison.” Noting the qualifications Barnes had gained inside, he warned him he’d face an extended sentence if he robbed again. http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... rs-7437661 |
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| Author: | Sussex [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:45 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery |
A killer in waiting.
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| Author: | captain cab [ Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:50 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery |
Wouldn't society be better off if this chap was taken to a meadow, made to dig a hole, and then shot through the back of the head? |
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| Author: | Nidge2 [ Thu Jul 17, 2014 4:20 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery |
captain cab wrote: Wouldn't society be better off if this chap was taken to a meadow, made to dig a hole, and then shot through the back of the head? Yes with me pulling the trigger. |
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| Author: | StuartW [ Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:39 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery |
Seven years ago, Sussex wrote: A killer in waiting. Not quite, but he's back behind bars at least  Always knew he was a wrong 'un, though   Knifepoint robber who ruined taxi driver's life back behind bars after stealing car keys in burglary https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/tees ... i-21349546 Barnes stole a variety of items from a laptop to a shoe horn A Teesside criminal is back behind bars months after being released from prison. Karl Andrew Barnes was jailed for more than four years after ruining a taxi driver's life by robbing him at knifepoint in 2014. But the 31-year-old was brought back before a judge for burglary. Barnes appeared at Durham Crown Court on Monday for sentencing. The court heard how Barnes entered a house on High Street, Tow Law in County Durham. He took a laptop, car keys, garage keys, a shoe horn, a pair of pliers and a tyre lever. The Middlesbrough man admitted the burglary on May 3. Barnes, of Marton Burn Road, Grove Hill, was jailed for two years. He was also ordered to pay £156 victim surcharge. |
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| Author: | StuartW [ Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:40 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery |
Quote: A Teesside criminal is back behind bars months after being released from prison. But if he got four years back in 2014, then presumably released in 2018? So a bit of a stretch to say now he was released 'months' ago, although it's maybe better in terms of newsworthiness. Journalistic licence, and all that. ('Bit of a stretch' - see what I did there?  )
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| Author: | Sussex [ Thu Aug 19, 2021 7:33 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Taxi driver's life ruined by knifepoint robbery |
He would have done two/three years of the original sentence, so would have been out in 2016/17. I suspect he was convicted of another offence and served another sentence between the two we know about. |
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