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Jail for thugs in airport revenge on taxi drivers
Hooligans who started a 'riot' at an airport cab rank by hurling missiles at the taxi drivers have been jailed. The gang threw stones, a broken paving slab and a rubbish bin, causing £800 damage to a car and putting a cabbie in hospital.
The drunken attack sparked a brawl with the drivers involving 'as many as 30', the court heard. The six lads – aged between 17 and 20 – had been drinking in the Airport pub, near the taxi feeder rank, where cabs wait to pick up fares from the terminal.
Four of the defendants had argued with an airport cabbie the week before, after he refused them a ride. As the gang left the pub before the attack, at around 11pm, last April, bouncers heard one say: “It's time for a fight.”
Michael Leeming, prosecuting, told the court: “They walked across the road towards the feeder car park. The witnesses then say a riot took place.” CCTV footage, shown in court, showed some of the thugs hurling stones, a can and a litter bin at the taxi drivers.
College student John Pearson, 20, grabbed a broken paving slab and threw it at the bonnet of a taxi, causing £800 damage. His brother Mark Pearson, 19, an apprentice joiner; and friends Craig Weston, 19, and Benjamin Drabble, 18, also threw stones.
Two youths, both 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were also involved in the affray. A cabbie was hit in the head by one stone and was taken to hospital to have the cut glued. “At this stage, a large group of taxi drivers, possibly as many as 30 ran towards [the defendants]”, Mr Leeming said.
All six defendants admitted affray at Minshull Street crown court earlier this month and have now been jailed. As they were sentenced, one startled defendant asked: “Does that mean I have to go to prison today?”
Judge Robert Crawford, Recorder of Manchester, gave the defendants credit for their guilty pleas, but added: “You behaved in an abominable fashion.
“Anyone watching the video would have been shocked by what they saw – a group of young men acting in what we call an affray, but effectively, behaving in a yobbish way, throwing stones and hurling insults. One of you threw a bin. “This is so serious that only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
The defendants had not been in trouble since the incident and felt 'ashamed', the court heard. John and Mark Pearson, 20 and 19, of Williton Walk; Benjamin Drabble, 18, of Collyton Walk; and Craig Weston, 19, of Glenby Avenue – all in the Peel Hall area of Wythenshawe - were all jailed for 8 months in a young offenders' institution.
Two more defendants, both 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were also given eight-month sentences.
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