An eighteen-year-old accused of killing a taxi driver during a row over an upaid fair has been cleared.
Cabbie Raymond Quigley, 72, died during a struggle with Dale Patterson, 18, in the early hours of September 2 last year.
-
Sign up for free Echo news email updates Prosecutors claim Patterson was responsible for the death as it was the exertion of trying to stop him from running off without paying which made Mr Quigley suffer a fatal heart attack.
Patterson claimed he had tried to flee the cab because Mr Quigley had taken him along an unfamiliar route and he feared something untoward may be about to happen to him.
Jurors were discharged from reaching a verdict in the case yesterday after it was revealed one juror had been conducting his own research.
After hearing legal submissions Judge David Hodson said the prosecution case was fatally flawed, resulting in prosecutors offering no evidence against the teenager.
Judge Hodson recorded a not guilty verdict on charges of making off without payment and manslaughter.
Defence barrister Robert Smith said Patterson now realises his fear something untoward may have been about to happen to him were a "complete misunderstanding."
The full article contains 204 words and appears in Sunderland Echo newspaper.
