Taxi Driver Online

Soldier jailed after vicious attack on Northallerton taxi driver

A SOLDIER who carried out a vicious and unprovoked attack on a taxi driver has been jailed for nine years and nine months.

A 43-year-old taxi driver from Northallerton suffered a critical brain injury and was in a coma for two months following the attack, which happened in the early hours of Sunday, December 1 last year.

Steffan Rhys Wilson, 26, of Maesyfro, Station Terrace, Llanybydder, Sir Gar, West Wales, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court today after pleading guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

The victim, who was treated at James Cook University Hospital, has been left with debilitating health issues which have greatly impacted on his own and his family’s lives.

Since discharged for gross misconduct from his position as a Corporal with the Royal Engineers, Wilson had been set to face a trial for attempted murder.

However, his guilty plea to the lesser offence was accepted by the court on Monday.

Two charges for assaulting an emergency worker, which involved the police officers who came to assist the taxi driver, will lie on file.

The incident occurred by the side of the A6055 at Little Holtby - between Leeming and Catterick Village - during the early hours of December 1.

Wilson got in the taxi at around 3am from outside Club Amadeus in Northallerton.

When the taxi arrived at Little Holtby, Wilson carried out an unprovoked attack on the driver.

The police officers arrived while the attack was ongoing.

Wilson immediately stopped and began attacking the officers, a male sergeant and female police constable.

The woman was punched and the man was strangled by Wilson.

Fearing for their safety, the officers activated a call for emergency assistance which resulted in Wilson being detained.

As he was being put in the back of the police van, Wilson reportedly said the following to the sergeant: “You took your time. I was going to kill him (the taxi driver) and I was going to kill you.”

He was charged that same day with attempted murder and the two assaults on emergency workers.

He has been remanded in custody since the incident.

A scheduled trial in May had to be postponed due to Covid-19.

Detective Inspector Matt Wilkinson, of Northallerton CID, said: “In this case there are three victims - the taxi driver and the two police officers. None of whom were known to Wilson.

“The taxi driver merely collected Wilson from outside a local nightclub, and the police officers were responding to the driver’s call for help.

“During the time Wilson was being questioned at the police station, he has not given any credible explanation for his terrible actions, other than to say he was really drunk and that he didn’t mean any harm.

“He did state that he thought he was on a military exercise, but extensive police enquiries were conducted around Wilson’s military career and there was nothing to suggest that he had or was suffering from PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder) at the time of the incident. “All the evidence gathered during the course of the investigation indicates that it was a completely unprovoked attack.

“To this day, Wilson’s motive remains unknown.”

The victim was discharged from hospital at the beginning of March.

He remains under medical care but as an outpatient. He has ongoing issues with his vision, co–ordination and mood changes, and now carries a Brain Injury identity card.

DI Wilkinson said: “His wife has been heavily reliant on the Malayali community and their family - many of whom do not live locally - to assist with caring for him and to help with their children.

“However, due to the Covid-19 restrictions, this has left his wife having to provide the care alone.

“The family are struggling financially and their children have also needed additional support at school as a result of this attack.

“In view of this despairing situation, North Yorkshire Police is trying to facilitate some extra support through our partner agencies.”

Addressing the assaults on the police officers, DI Wilkinson said: “Taking into account the violent actions against the taxi driver, the ferocious attack on them and the comment made by Wilson immediately after he was arrested that he was going to kill them along with the taxi driver, both officers said they feared for their lives.

“Although the officers sustained slight injuries, this incident has had a lasting effect on them. It left them very shaken and upset for a number of weeks.

“Overall, this has been a very tragic and sad case for all concerned. Aggravated further as it was the taxi driver’s birthday on the day of the attack, and for the defendant who, prior to this case, was regarded as a good soldier who played rugby for the army.”

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IDFIMH

What an out and out scum bag that has ruined people's lives, and if he had his wish would have ended some of them.

No sentence is long enough for a scum bag like this.

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IDFIMH

the problem with soldiers is they are trained to kill and when they lose their rag watch out


about 15 years ago one of my vehicles was pounced on whilst driving passengers home they dragged an occupant out and beat him into a similar state he was in a coma for a month and left in a wheelchair for life.

All 6 soldiers received jail sentences but it is always a problem with the army they are trained to kill and to look after their own

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

This incident was featured on a Channel 5 fly-on-the-wall cop show doco last night (kind of thing that always seems to be on Channel 5 late at night if I'm channel flicking, although it's not normally the kind of thing I watch for too long, although for obvious reasons this episode caught my attention).

Worth watching the relevant 15-20 minutes or so of the progam, although as per usual with these things it's maybe a tad drawn out, and if anyone recalls the article above (I didn't initially connect the program with the article on here, but easily enough found via the search), then there's nothing startlingly new, although there's a recording of the driver's ongoing call to police, and bodycam footage of when they arrive at the scene (although the footage isn't particularly clear).

Unsurprisingly, though, there's some detail in the article above that isn't in the TV piece, and vice versa, and maybe some conflicting detail, although no point sweating that on here.

But even before it became clear how the whole thing would play out, the words 'North Wales Coroner' were running through my head

Of course, if he'd been the driver here, none of this would have even happened

But at least the driver (who appears on the programme) seems to have made quite a good recovery since the article above, and the doco certainly demonstrates how lucky he was to have escaped with his life

Anyway, I think this is the relevant link below, although because it requires registration etc I haven't tried watching it again via this catchup thing. But I'd guess it's probably the middle one third or so of the episode, although I don't know the precise timings:

https://www.channel5.com/show/police-co ... /episode-7

I watched that last night and decided to look it up on here to see if it was covered. And then forgot.

Incredibly moving, and incredibly distressing.

It's also worth anyone who has a negative view on the police watching this, because I'm certain that without the actions of those two police officers, the taxi driver would have been killed.

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IDFIMH