Taxi Driver Online

Two men charged after taxi driver is robbed in Wickford

TWO men have been charged after a taxi driver was robbed overnight.

Police were called to Appletree Way at around 2.45am on Sunday morning after reports the driver had been robbed.

The victim suffered bruising and swelling to his face.

Two men were arrested at 11.30am the following morning.

Roy O’Donoghue, 39, of Finchley Road, Westcliff, and Kevin Hutchinson, 34, of Appletree Way, Wickford, have been charged with robbery.

They are next due to appear at Basildon Crown Court on Monday October 12 after appearing at Southend Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

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IDFIMH

I wonder what excuses they'll come up with in court.

"my xr3i needed a new exhaust and I was short"

" I needed the money to change my name to Wayne so I would fit in better"

but I doubt it will be that entertaining!

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Who knows, but no doubt they will be really really sorry and promise to be good citizens in the future.

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IDFIMH

Wickford Taxi attack: Cabbie strangled and threatened by thugs

https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/190776 ... ned-thugs/

A TAXI driver was strangled with a phone charger while being branded a paedophile by two thugs who threatened to kill him.

Kevin Hutchinson, 25, of Appleton Way Wickford and Roy O’Donoghue, 34, of Finchley Road, Westcliff targeted the driver in Appletree Way, Wickford at 2.45am on September 12.

At Basildon Crown Court yesterday, Hutchinson was sentenced to 10 years in prison while O’Donoghue was handed an 11 year and four month sentence.

The driver was left with bruising and swelling to his face and lost two teeth in the attack while the pair stole his phone.

Judge Samantha Leigh said both were trying to hide behind an excuse of being drunk.

She said: “This was a totally unprovoked attack and you were calling him a paedophile and saying you would kill him.

“O Donoghue you tried to strangle him and he was punched repeatedly.

“He was vulnerable and suffered psychical, mental and financial loss. You restrained the driver and this was not a fleeting attack and went on for a good few minutes.”

Prosecuting Katie Mustard revealed the victim has been unable to work since the violent attack.

She said: “He has difficulties sleeping and finds it hard to trust people and it’s had an impact on the whole family.

“He also now fears going out at a night.”

Mitigating for O’Donoghue Steven Levy, insisted his client was disgusted at his actions.

He said: “He was given eight years in prison for GBH with intent and was released and things were going well and he started to turn his life around.

“He suffered injuries to his back and was stabbed in a previous incident and was self medicating for the pain with alcohol.”

Sean Smith, mitigating for Hutchinson in court, said: “He’s shown genuine remorse in a series of letters and took positive steps while in custody.

“He has no previous convictions of this seriousness and when sober he is not a bad person.”

Surprised the other one got ten years, though, since it seems his previous wasn't serious

Now that's the sort of sentence these thugs deserves and our trade should expect every time.

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IDFIMH

Usually not worth bothering about different versions of the same case with a few minor differences, but this one worth a read because of the value of the CCTV evidence, which wasn't mentioned above.


Men jailed after attack on taxi driver in Wickford

https://www.yellowad.co.uk/men-sentence ... -wickford/


Image: Yellow Advertiser

Two robbers who violently assaulted a taxi driver in Wickford have been jailed for a combined 21 years after being arrested within hours of the attack.

Kevin Hutchinson, 25, of Appleton Way, in Wickford and Roy O’Donoghue, 34, of Finchley Road, Westcliff, targeted the driver in Appletree Way, Wickford, at 2.45am on September 12.

During the attack, the victim had a cord placed around his neck as one of the men tried to strangle him. He was also punched.

The victim’s iPhone was also taken during the robbery.

But within hours of the report, both men were in police custody after officers were able to identify Hutchinson as one of the men seen carrying out the attack, which was caught on the taxi driver’s internal camera.

Hutchinson was linked to three addresses and was arrested at the third address.

While there, officers arrested a second man, O’Donoghue, after noticing his tattoos of birds matched those seen on the second man in the dash cam footage.

Both men were still wearing the same clothes as when they had committed the robbery.

The pair were charged and convicted with robbery and on Tuesday February 9, they were sentenced at Basildon Crown Court by Judge Samantha Leigh.

O’Donoghue was sentenced to 11 years and four months, which includes a six-year sentence and five years on extended licence.

Hutchinson was handed a ten year sentence, which includes fours years on extended licence.

Investigating officer, Acting DS Natalie Backhouse, said: “I am pleased the court recognised this was a horrific and impactful attack on the victim.

“This sentencing is fair and shows that the courts appreciated the seriousness of it.

“This is a message to anyone who thinks they can commit crime in Essex and get away with it – you cannot.

“In this case, we had both O’Donoghue and Hutchinson in custody within 12 hours of the robbery being reported and we hope that is of some comfort to their victim.

So that's three ways the CCTV images helped - identifying Hutchinson initially, identifying O'Donoghue via his tatoos, and identifying them both via the clothes they were still wearing

Which I'm sure will make Mr Sussex even happier still

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IDFIMH