Man jailed after threatening taxi driver at knifepoint to steal £100 cash
- Perry Richardson
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
A man who threatened a Worcester taxi driver with a knife during a robbery has been jailed for six years and four months.
Paul Sheward, aged 38 and of no fixed abode, admitted robbery and two counts of possessing a bladed article in a public place at an earlier hearing in March. He was sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday 14 October.
The incident took place on Foxwell Street at around 7pm on Friday 13 September 2024. Sheward and an accomplice targeted the driver, wrongly believing he had drugs in his car. After being threatened with a knife, the taxi driver handed over around £100 in cash and a mobile phone before Sheward fled on foot.
Police officers responded swiftly and recovered discarded shopping near the scene. CCTV checks at Tesco on London Road showed a man matching the description of the attacker buying the same items shortly before the incident. Sheward was positively identified from the footage.
He was arrested three days later on Monday 16 September, again found in possession of a knife. He was later charged with a further count of carrying a bladed article.
The court sentenced Sheward to six years and four months for robbery, with concurrent terms of eight and ten months for the knife offences.
Detective Constable Cameron Chamberlain, of Worcester Reactive CID, said: “Violent offenders and bladed articles have no place in our communities, and this court result shows we will always seek to prosecute those committing such offences and bring them to justice.
“Sheward’s cowardly robbery on the taxi driver has rightly seen him given more than six years in prison and is another knife carrying criminal off our streets.”
