Yahoo News Wallsend dad jailed for 10 years after targeting taxi driver in terrifying knife-point robbery
A taxi driver was subjected to a terrifying robbery by two passengers during which a knife was held to his throat.
The cabbie was working in the Wallsend area on December 2 2021 when he received a job to pick someone up from Charlotte Street in the town. He got there around 12.40am and Robert Wardle and another man got in.
Wardle, who has new-born twins, had a scarf over his mouth and his hood up. The driver was asked to take them to the cashpoint of a bank on Wallsend High Street and Wardle got out when they arrived there.
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Newcastle Crown Court heard the other man asked the cabbie to pull into a side street, saying he didn't want the police to see him and that he had been released from prison following a 12-year sentence for armed robbery. Wardle also said he was wanted by the police.
They asked to go back to Charlotte Street. When they got there, the second man pulled out a knife, reached around the driver's seat and held the blade to his throat. The victim tried to grab it before getting out of the car and running away.
The robbers initially chased after him but then went back to the taxi and drove it away. The car was later found a few streets away but they had stolen his wallet, containing £600 and bank cards, his dashcam, house keys and keys to another vehicle.
The court heard the robbery has had a "profound" impact on the taxi driver. In a victim statement, he said he no longer feels safe working at night and remains nervous and wary. He said he has suffered a huge loss in earnings as a result the fact he no longer works nights and is selective about the jobs he will take.
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Wardle, 32, of High Street East, Wallsend, who has 34 previous convictions, was convicted of robbery after a trial earlier this year. While the jury were out, he absconded from court and was on the run for two months and ten days.
During that time, he burgled Heron Foods, in Newbiggin Hall, in the early hours of May 17, stealing alcohol and vapes worth £530. He pleaded guilty to burglary and absconding.
Judge Amanda Rippon jailed him for a total of ten years and ten weeks, with an extended licence period of a further two years.
The court heard Wardle had a difficult start to life and became addicted to substances. Kate Barnes, defending, said: "For the first time he has acknowledged he has a drug problem." She added that his new-born twins were outside the courtroom and that he was motivated to change for their sake.
A robbery charge against Nathan Waugh, who was originally accused of robbery alongside Wardle, was dropped at an earlier hearing.
