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Daily Mail 24th May 07
A killer who drove over a taxi driver after stealing his cab was being hunted by police.
Police were called to St Benedict's Avenue in Gravesend, Kent, to reports that the victim had been assaulted, then run over, at 10.10pm 23rd of May.
The unnamed victim, who worked for Millennium Data Cabs in Gravesend, had his taxi stolen before it was later found abandoned and burnt out in nearby Truro Road.
A Kent Police spokesman said a murder investigation was under way as forensic teams sealed off part of the road to conduct fingertip searches.
A spokesman for Millennium Data Cabs confirmed the victim, believed to be an elderly man, worked for them, but declined to give further details.
Alan Meen, who lives in St Benedict's Avenue, told BBC Kent the victim had "burn marks" on his arms from the car's exhaust.
He said he was called to the scene by a neighbour and added: "I put some blankets over him, put a blanket underneath his head, and waited for the ambulance."
Conservative Gravesham MP Adam Holloway urged the killer to surrender himself to police immediately.
He said: "What really worries me about this is that somewhere in the community there is a nutter who ran someone over last night.
"That person should be in custody as soon as possible. If you are the idiot that did this, you better go to the cops right now."
Residents spoke of their shock at the murder. George Tarling, 70, a retired HGV driver, said: "You don't expect things like this to happen on your own doorstep.
"Generally this is a very quiet area with really no major crime problems except for the odd garage break-in.
"But I have heard of people asking taxi drivers to drop them off round here and then making a run for it without paying.
"I spoke to one taxi driver recently who said it happened three times in one week. I suppose it is because there are a lot of escape routes round here and it is easy for people to leg it."
Another resident, labourer Allan Dartnell, 41, said: "We've had no serious crime round here in the seven years that I've lived here.
"It's terrible. I heard the police sirens last night but I went back to bed and thought nothing of it until I woke up this morning to go to work and found police all the place.
"I've been told to wait here until police have given me the all-clear to go but in the meantime I've just got to stay in."
May Fowke, 80, said: "I feel terrible and frightened knowing that someone has been murdered near my own doorstep.
"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is coming to an end. I heard quite a bit of noise last night but I never thought it would be something as serious as this."
Taxi drivers said the incident would lead to heightened anxiety for those who work nights.
One, who declined to be named, said: "This is bound to put some taxi drivers off working nights.
"All we're doing is going out trying to make some money and then something like this happens.
"If drivers refuse to work nights, then we are going to get moaned at by customers. It does make you more wary."
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