Give me the money
ROBBER’S WORDS TO TERRIFIED CABBIE AS HE HELD KNIFE TO HIM
A VIOLENT career criminal lured a taxi driver to a terrifying knife-point robbery just two weeks after he had been released from prison on licence.
Philip Phythian, 29, told the cabbie he wanted to visit his sick mother in hospital during lockdown but he pressed a blade to his victim’s stomach and screamed ‘give me the money.’
In court, the robber blamed the death of his two baby children for plunging him into a drink-and-drug fuelled depression and said he had sought help but lockdown had seen ‘all doors closed.’
Now he has been jailed after a judged dismissed his claim to be remorseful and urged him to take responsibility for his own actions.
The taxi driver came from Bolton to collect Phythian from Gorton just before 6am on April 4 , a court heard.
He was told by his fare, only just out of prison on licence, that he wanted to be taken to Royal Bolton Hospital to visit his mother. But when the taxi arrived, Phythian asked to be taken to a number of other addresses first, prosecutor Justin Hayhoe told Manchester Crown Court.
But the taxi driver, a married father-of-three, ‘started to feel alarmed’ when Phythian then asked to be taken back to the address in Gorton from which he had just been picked up.
On the way Phythian told the driver to stop the car, pulled out a large knife and pressed it to his stomach, telling his terrified victim: “Give me the money. Quick, quick. Give me the money.”
The driver handed over his evening’s takings, £100 in cash, and Phythian calmly walked away.
Police were called and visited the original pick-up point where an occupant pointed officers to Phythian’s nearby address. They arrested him and seized three knives. He denied his crime and suggested the taxi driver had lied.
In a victim personal statement read out in court, the driver said: “I felt so scared. He could have really hurt me, all for money. I was so panicked. I still panic every single day now.”
The court heard Phythian has a string of previous convictions including for burglary, robbery and knife crime. He had only been released from prison on March 18.
David Toal, defending, said: “Whilst he accepts the knife was used to threaten, there was no actual violence used towards the taxi driver and no physical injuries caused.”
Upon his latest release from prison, Phythian was filled with ‘positive intentions’ and had arranged for grievance counselling but then the coronavirus pandemic happened. Mr Toal said Phythian, who had worked as a machine operator, ‘lost control.’
Jailing Phythian for six years, Judge Suzanne Goddard QC told him: “It’s said you now feel remorse for what you did. Those are easy words to say on the day you are sentenced but the fact is you denied responsibility when you were interviewed by the police.”
Phythian, of Lowgill Walk, Gorton, admitted robbery and possession of a knife.