Tweed 'got off lightly' says cabbie

12 April 2012

The taxi driver attacked by Jade Goody's widower Jack Tweed has said he "got off lightly" with a 12-week jail term because of who he married.

Tweed, 21, from Buckhurst Hill, Essex, was locked up on Tuesday for assaulting Stephen Wilkins following a night out in nearby Epping last May.

Mr Wilkins, 54, told the Daily Mirror: "If he had been Joe Bloggs he would have got what he deserved - it's because of who he is and who he married he got off lightly."

Mother-of-two Goody, who married Tweed in February, died last month following a battle with cancer. Her husband was convicted last month for assaulting Mr Wilkins following a trial in Epping.

He picked up Tweed, another man and two women in Epping in the early hours of May 5.

Mr Wilkins said Tweed became aggressive after being asked to pay the fare in advance, grabbing him from behind in a headlock and threatening to stab him.

Tweed also grabbed the cab's handbrake, causing the car to spin in the middle of the road, he said.

Mr Wilkins told the Mirror: "He could have killed four people and all he gets is a few weeks. I still have nightmares about that night. He has never apologised. He was like an animal."

The attack happened while Tweed was on bail for another assault, on a 16-year-old boy in December 2006. Tweed, who was ordered to pay £455 costs and £200 compensation to Mr Wilkins, was told he would serve half of his sentence in custody.

Margaret Webb, magistrates chairwoman, told him she had reduced the jail term from 18 weeks to take into account "the recent change in your personal circumstances".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in