A man who held a taxi driver at knife point and robbed him of £100 has been jailed

A man who held a taxi driver at knife point and robbed him of £100 has been jailed.

Today (Thursday 14 May 2020) at Manchester Crown Court Philip Phythian (18/09/1990) of Lowgill Walk, Gorton was sentenced to six years in prison after he pleaded guilty to robbery and possession of a bladed article.

The court heard that on Saturday 4 April 2020 at around 5.40am Phythian requested a taxi from an address in Manchester to take him to Royal Bolton Hospital.

When the taxi arrived Phythian got in and directed the driver to several different addresses in the local area. At each stop he got out of the car and returned a few moments later.

Phythian asked the driver to make one more stop for him but during the journey Phythian looked panicked and told the man to stop the car. He then pulled out a black handled kitchen knife and pointed it at the victim’s stomach.

Phythian shouted : “Give me the money, quick, quick, give me the money!”

The taxi driver handed Phythian the earnings he had made that night which totalled around £100.

Phythian took the money and fled the scene.

The taxi driver then rang 999 to report the incident and gave a detailed description of Phythian to police.

After the attack police conducted telephone enquiries which revealed that the mobile number used to ring the taxi firm which picked up Phythian was linked to another man who lived at an address in Manchester.

Officers attended the address in Manchester and forced entry when no one answered the door.

Police found Phythian in the bedroom and arrested him on suspicion of robbery.

During his police interview Phythian admitted being in the taxi  but denied committing the robbery. He specifically stated: “I don’t rob people with knives.”

Phythian however changed his plea to guilty after the amount of evidence found against him.

Detective Constable Amy Robins of GMP’s North Manchester Criminal Investigation Department said: “I would like to thank the victim for his bravery when contacting police and describing Phythian after what would have been a horrifying ordeal for anyone to go through.

“Thanks to his description of events and our officers who detected the call which led to Phythian’s arrest a dangerous man is behind bars.

“Due to the hard work of our officers, Phythian’s conniving attempts to evade arrest failed and today he has been brought to justice.”