Taxi Driver Online

There have been many debates on TDO about people slipping through the licensing screening net and these debates will no doubt continue. Here is a judgement that highlights such a point but the actual remedy handed down by the Sheriff is somewhat unique.
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Daily Mail (London)

July 25, 2006 Tuesday

HEADLINE: JUDGE IN SEX BAN ON SERIAL STALKER;

Danger man is barred from going near any woman in Scotland

BYLINE: JONATHAN BROCKLEBANK

A SERIAL stalker has been banned from approaching any woman in Scotland.

Robert Basterfield, 34, faces immediate arrest if he is ever By Jonathan Brocklebank found alone with a woman or a female child. But despite being considered a danger to half the population, he remains free to walk the streets after being repeatedly freed on bail.

The extraordinary court order was issued by a sheriff after Basterfield committed a catalogue of chilling crimes.

Now Tayside Police believe no woman or girl is safe alone in the his company. They say Basterfield poses a ' very high risk' of violent sexual offending. Tayside Police Chief Constable John Vine applied for the ban after Basterfield was released by a High Court judge pending sentence on two separate stalking cases.

Sheriff Marisa Lewis granted the interim interdict essentially forbidding Basterfield from having any contact with the female population at Perth Sheriff Court after a succession of delays kept him at liberty.

She described the order against Basterfield, of Princes Street, Perth, as being 'extremely broad' in its terms. It bans him from being alone or remaining in the company of any lone female or approaching, accosting, following or communicating in person with any woman or girl on their own. He is also banned from allowing any lone woman to come into his home or any other house that he happens to be in.

No lone female is allowed to get in any vehicle he is in except public service vehicles such as buses. He is also forbidden from taking any job involving unsupervised access or control over any lone female.

Women who want to be alone with Basterfield have to give their express consent or he is liable for arrest. Mr Vine's application said monitoring by the police and information from the public had resulted in Basterfield's risk assessment being upgraded from 'high risk' to 'very high risk'.

It stated: 'He has acted in such a way as to give reasonable cause to believe that an order in terms of the present application is necessary for the purposes of protecting the public from serious sexual harm from him.' The application concluded: 'His conduct poses an immediate and high risk of serious sexual harm to the public and in particular to lone females coming into contact with him.

'The terms of the order are necessary to protect the public, and in particular lone females, from serious sexual harm.' Police were horrified earlier this month when Basterfield was freed on bail by the High Court despite the fact that he was waiting to be sentenced for stalking a woman while on bail.

A police insider said: 'This man left his victims absolutely terrified and he has shown no remorse whatsoever for what he has done to them. How he can get bailed out again is beyond me. I believe he has the potential to be a highly dangerous individual.' Basterfield grew up in Australia after his parents emigrated from the UK decades ago.

He has dual citizenship, which means he cannot be deported from Britain.

He began a new life in Scotland three years ago after being convicted of a similar offence in the Australian courts.

In Sydney, he pursued an attractive woman to the store where she worked, despite being previously banned from entering it. He disappeared into a changing room, then re-emerged naked and asked the horrified assistant to help him put on a dress.

After moving to Scotland, Basterfield drove a taxi for a year until Australian authorities warned Tayside Police of his background and his licence was revoked.
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