Taxi Driver Online

Where to start with this?

CCTV evidence, ID parades (or the modern equivalent), DNA tests, a claim that it was a previous similar offender wot done it, and possible contempt of court stuff. And she got off with the robbery. And then walked free


Robbed Fife taxi driver’s bank card used hours later by prolific offender

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Amanda McKenna was cleared by a jury of robbery but found guilty of fraudulently using the victim's card.

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A woman cleared by a jury of robbing a taxi driver in Kirkcaldy fraudulently used his bank card to pay for another cab two hours later.

Amanda McKenna went on trial accused of seizing the driver’s neck with both hands from the back seat of his cab, telling him she had a dirty needle pressed against his neck and robbing him of his wallet.

The identity of the perpetrator of the attack – which happened outside the Co-op in Dunearn Drive around 2.30am on March 28 last year – was disputed in the trial.

Around two hours after the robbery, a bank card belonging to the same cabbie was used by McKenna to pay £20 for another taxi.

Its driver recalled seeing distinctive star tattoos on her neck.

McKenna, 39, denied all the offending and lodged a special defence of incrimination, claiming another woman named Claire Duncan – who is serving 40 months in prison for a series of similar robberies on taxi drivers – was responsible.

Following trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court, a jury found McKenna not guilty of the assault and robbery charge but convicted her of the fraudulent use of a bank card.

Taxi driver’s terror

The first taxi driver told the trial that at around 2.30am he went to pick up a fare on Dunearn Drive for an address in Melrose Crescent.

The 53-year-old said a woman wearing a “greenish colour” Parka jacket with the hood up and blue jeans entered his vehicle and sat directly behind him.

He said he saw her face when she walked past the window of his taxi and claimed in court to be “100%” sure the same person, McKenna, was sitting in the dock.

The driver asked for payment up front but she replied she would “get the money when she got there” and he told her company policy meant he could not take her.

He said she then put both hands round his throat.

“She told me she had no money and she had a dirty needle.

“I can feel something sharp pressed against my neck as well, on my right hand side. I was not able to see.”

The man said the pressure was slight but not enough to pierce the skin, adding: “I told her I would give her the money.”

He said the woman then loosened her grip, so he grabbed her wrists and pulled them apart, left the cab and checked his neck to ensure he had not been stabbed.

The woman was lying across the driver seat and he went back to punch her twice, though he was unsure about where the punches connected, and threw her out of the vehicle and drove off.

Asked by prosecutor Laurelle Johnstone how he felt at this point, the man said: “I was shaken.”

He drove to a pub and phoned the taxi operator, who called 999.

The driver told the court his wallet – containing about £60 in cash, bank cards and a driving licence – was taken.

CCTV from outside the shop was played to jurors and showed a person entering the taxi and an apparent struggle outside the vehicle about a minute later. The identity of the assailant was unclear.

Identity dispute

In cross-examination, defence lawyer Adam Scott pointed out the driver was unable to identify McKenna at a video identification parade about a month after the incident.

The driver told the trial he was uncertain because the woman’s hair had looked different – tidier and possibly a different colour.

On the morning after the attack, however, the driver did pick out McKenna’s face on a police emulator sheet of 12 women.

Mr Scott suggested McKenna’s photograph stood out because it was the only image with a red background but asked why he picked that image, the driver replied: “Because that’s the person that attacked me.”

Mr Scott highlighted photos of McKenna taken by police three days later showed no injuries on his client.

DNA samples taken from the taxi driver were inconclusive.

The driver acknowledged the back seat interior light was not working and the camera in the taxi was not working at the time.

Bank card fraud

The trial heard a second taxi driver was called at around 4.35am that morning to collect someone from McKenna’s partner’s address in Templehall Avenue.

A woman got into the cab and paid £20 up front using a bank card in the name of the first taxi driver.

She was taken to another address in the town and later collected and driven back to Templehall Avenue.

The cabbie, who said he was made aware of the attack on another driver by the time he came back to pick up the woman, continued: “I wanted to notice as much as possible about the female.

“At this time of year it was still dark. Maybe it was dusk. I noticed a tattoo on the left hand side of her neck.”

Asked if he recalled what the tattoo was, he said: “I think it might be like stars.”

The driver was shown a photograph of McKenna’s tattoo and asked if he recognised it and he said: “I can not be 100% sure but this might be it. I remember it as kind of stars.”

He said he dropped her back in Templehall Avenue around 5.20am.

Blame placed on previous offender

The court heard that at 5.30am police phoned the number used to book the second taxi and it was answered by a male, who passed the phone to a woman who confirmed her name as Amanda McKenna before hanging up.

The trial heard details from a transcript of McKenna’s interview with detectives later that day in which she denied the robbery and claimed her partner had phoned a taxi for a “girl named Claire”.

The defence called witness Claire Duncan, who was jailed for 40 months in September last year for three attacks – two robberies and an attempted robbery – on taxi drivers in Thornton and Glenrothes between April and May 2025.

Duncan, 32, denied committing the offence McKenna was accused of and said she has “taken full responsibility for everything I have done”.

Mr Scott highlighted Duncan’s crimes had involved holding a knife or sharply pointed objects against her victims’ necks.

She said police spoke to her in January to ask if she was responsible for the Dunearn Drive robbery.

She said she did not care if she was released from prison tomorrow or next year, adding: “I am happy being in prison. If I had done this I would take responsibility.”

McKenna’s partner told the trial Duncan had been at his home that night and she left for about an hour, returning with blood coming from her nose and lip and claiming someone had “tried to take money off her.”

He said he phoned a taxi for her as she did not have a phone.

Troubled trial

At times during court proceedings on the penultimate day of her trial, McKenna was seen to slump over in the dock and appeared to be sleeping.

The trial had to be adjourned over a weekend as a result and McKenna was remanded in custody for that period.

Following the verdicts and while considering the matter of contempt, Sheriff John MacRitchie said: “At one stage, she was so comatose that the escorting officer (custody officer) could not actually wake her up.

“She clearly has very significant issues.”

McKenna also failed to turn up for one of the afternoon sessions earlier in her trial.

The sheriff continued: “She just disappeared from the court to go and get medication without any word and caused massive inconvenience to members of the jury.”

Prosecutor Ms Johnstone tendered a schedule of McKenna’s previous convictions to the court, including various assaults, breach of the peace, failure to appear in court, theft by shoplifting, threatening or abusive behaviour and being concerned in the supply of heroin.

Mr Scott noted his client was previously subject to an electronic tag for 197 days as part of her bail conditions in relation to the current case.

The sheriff imposed a three-month prison sentence on McKenna, of Cowdenbeath, but as she has already served its equivalent on the tag, she was released from custody.

But funny that Kirkcaldy cars always get 99/100% pass rates in the annual inspections