Man held knife to taxi driver's neck in 'terrifying' robbery

A man who subjected a taxi driver to a “terrifying experience” after holding a knife to his neck has been jailed for four years.

Peter Garland was a passenger in the victim’s vehicle when he produced the weapon before robbing the driver of a mobile phone.

The driver had picked up Garland and others in Aberdeen, but when he pulled up during the journey, he felt a sharp object at the side of his neck before he was pursued by the attacker brandishing the knife.

A judge told Garland, 33, at the High Court in Edinburgh that it was a serious offence committed against a background of persistent criminality.

Lady Haldane said that Garland, a prisoner at Grampian jail, would have faced a six-year jail term, but for his guilty plea.

Garland earlier admitted assaulting the victim at Rowan Road, in Aberdeen, on October 6 last year by holding the knife to his neck, making threats of violence, pursuing him and robbing him of the phone. The phone was later recovered.

The judge pointed out that Garland was assessed as posing a high risk of reoffending and told him: “In this case, protection of the public is clearly a significant factor.”

She ordered that Garland should be supervised and monitored in the community for a further two-year period, when he will be on licence and can be returned to jail if he breaches the conditions.

Lady Haldane previously said it must have been a terrifying experience for the victim of the crime.

The court heard that unemployed Garland was with others when it was decided they would go to another address in Aberdeen, and a taxi was called before he launched the attack.

Garland later told an acquaintance: “I was the one with the knife. It is all on me.”

Defence counsel Neil Shand said a background report prepared on Garland suggested that a period of supervision should be imposed in his case.

He said: “The accused is remorseful in regard to his actions. He recognises, both in the report and in his conversations with me, the effect that the offence had on the taxi driver.

“He also recognises that his adult life, up to now, has been largely unproductive,” said the defence counsel. He added: “He does have a degree of insight into his behaviour.”

Mr Shand said Garland has obtained a qualification as a hairdresser and was using his skills as a barber for the benefit of other inmates.