Doncaster taxi driver threatened with knife

A Doncaster man who subjected a taxi driver to a terrifying knifepoint ordeal has been sent to prison for a year.
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Lynden Arnold brandished a kitchen knife and threatened to rob the driver, Sheffield Crown Court was told.

He then asked to be taken to the police station, where he was arrested.

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The court heard how at 6.45am on January 4, Arnold got into a taxi and asked to be taken to the Jet petrol station in Balby Road, Hexthorpe.

After paying the fare of £5 upfront, Arnold, of no fixed address, began threatening the taxi driver.

Prosecutor Carl Fitch told the court: “The defendant demanded that the taxi driver stopped, and said he had a knife.

“He said ‘I’ll stab you if you don’t give me the money,’ and produced a kitchen knife with a blade about three inches long.

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“The driver carried on and said I thought you wanted to go to Balby Road.

“The defendant said: ‘I’ve robbed you, now take me to the police station’.”

The driver then drove Arnold, who previously worked as a nurse, to the nearest police station, honked his horn to alert officers and got out the taxi shouting ‘he’s got a knife’.”

At the time of the incident, Arnold was in a downward spiral in terms of his mental health following the death of his father and committed the offence as a ‘cry for help,’ the court heard.

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Mr Fitch said the circumstances of this incident were very similar to that of one carried out by Arnold on August 22 last year, when he attempted to rob a Doncaster petrol station at knife point but then did not take the money when it was given to him.

Arnold received a sentence of six months, suspended for a year when he appeared before the court for that offence in October last year.

He admitted to one count of possession of a bladed weapon and one count of affray in relation to this offence at an earlier hearing.

Sentencing Arnold to a year in prison, Recorder David Preston said: “This is a sad case, and a difficult case, involving a man who has had problems over the year.”