Schizophrenic killer lines up cabbie work
A Londoner from East Ham who was cleared of strangling his wife after admitting manslaughter and locked up under the Mental Health Act is to study ‘the knowledge’
2 September 2009
A PARANOID schizophrenic who strangled his wife is being allowed to study “the knowledge” to become a black-cab driver.
The decision to allow him to train as a cabbie has outraged women’s groups and many taxi drivers.
It raises the prospect he would be able to pick up lone women in the capital.
But Transport for London says it cannot legally stop him sitting the exams because the driver’s conviction is spent. The 38-year-old of East Ham – who cannot be named for legal reasons – admitted manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility in 2001. He claimed he killed his bride in 2000 because the devil was at work in his flat.
"It defies belief that any individual convicted of manslaughter for the killing of a woman could be considered as an acceptable candidate for ‘the knowledge’"
He was locked up indefinitely under the Mental Health Act but freed in 2003.
In August, he began studying for “the knowledge”– the two to four-year exam all black-cab drivers must pass.
Examiners at the Public Carriage Office – which regulates cabs – tried to block his application, claiming the public would be in danger. But they were overruled by TfL officials on legal grounds.
A TfL spokesman said: “His conviction is spent. He has spent time in institutions, undergone checks with medical professionals and they have assured us he is a fit and sound person.”
Bob Crow, general secretary of RMT, whose members include cab drivers, said: “It defies belief that any individual convicted of manslaughter for the killing of a woman could be considered as an acceptable candidate for ‘the knowledge’.”
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