- Ian Phillips, 48, stalks victims in Sunderland city center
A predatory taxi driver who waited for his victim before taking her to a secluded location and raping her has been sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Ian Phillips worked for a taxi firm but had unplugged and disabled his car camera to lurk near pubs and bars in Sunderland city center in the early hours to attract potential prey.
Newcastle Crown Court heard how a mother, who was “ten out of ten drunk”, lost the rest of her group and got into her car alone before she was taken to the Hendon beach area and attacked .
The victim had been helped into her vehicle by two well-meaning strangers who had noticed her struggling while waiting alone for a taxi home.
Married dad Phillips, 48, of Easington Colliery, Durham, denied rape but was found guilty by a jury after a trial.
Married father Ian Phillips, 48 (pictured), was waiting for the victims in his taxi before taking a very drunk mother to a secluded location and raping her.
He stated that he had signed up to work with cash that night and that the victim consented to what happened.
The court heard that the victim had been in Sunderland city center and was not a regular drinker, but ended up, in her own words, “deadly drunk”.
In the early hours of the morning he became separated from his group, but spoke to one of them on the phone, who told him to take a taxi home, thinking he would be safe.
The court heard she was sitting outside Gatsby’s bar, where she struggled to see his phone screen, and was helped into Phillips’ taxi by two kind passers-by, who had no reason to suspect she was being endangered.
The victim’s memory of what happened next is patchy, but she remembers being taken to a back road and then to Hendon beach and then being at her mother’s house with injuries and torn clothes.
She said in an impact statement that her life has been “upended” by what happened to her and that she has flashbacks and terrors about the brutal attack.
Phillips worked for a taxi company but had unplugged and disabled his car camera to lurk near pubs and bars in Sunderland city center (File image)
Judge Spragg said Phillips’ reason for clocking out was not to get cash work, adding: “His motive was far more sinister: trying to lure lonely, drunk women into his car.”
—You were acting as a rental car driver, which was not true. He had deliberately turned off his car cameras, there was no good reason to turn them off.
“I found out you were parked there hoping a drunk woman would get in the car and you could take advantage of her.”
“When the plaintiff gave it to you as what he was expecting, you were waiting there hoping that a single woman would get into your taxi.
‘This was planned by you, you were waiting there for a woman to appear before you.
“If it hadn’t been her, you would have waited to find someone else.”
The judge added that Phillips’ behavior was prompted by an “overwhelming sense of sexual entitlement” and a desire for control.
Judge Spragg added that the woman was too drunk to consent to anything and that Phillips is a “high risk to the public.”
The judge noted that most taxi drivers are “confident and trustworthy.”
Judge Spragg imposed an additional five-year extended license period following the 12-year jail term and said Phillips must comply with a sexual harm prevention order and lifelong sex offender registration requirements.
Lee Fish, defending, said: “He has committed an extremely serious offense and he will have to accept it.”