A DRUNK robber who violently assaulted a taxi driver before stealing £350 was locked up for three years.

Richard Deadman, 21, was also ordered to pay his victim David Marchant £1,350 compensation.

Deadman, his girlfriend Kirsty Spendlove, 20, and her friend were picked up by Mr Marchant outside the Honeypot pub on Basildon’s Festival Leisure Park in the early hours of May 3.

He asked to be driven to the Winged Horse in nearby Luncies Road, but when a row broke out in the back Mr Marchant stopped in Innes Road, Basildon.

Spendlove and her friend fled the taxi as Deadman launched his attack.

Mr Marchant, of Dencourt Crescent, Basildon, tried to fight back, but Deadman continued to rain blows on him.

Deadman, who later pleaded guilty to robbery, grabbed the victim’s money bag, containing £350, and ran off.

Yesterday, at Basildon Crown Court, Judge Christopher Mitchell jailed Deadman, telling him: “You attacked him and used your fists on him and at one stage you used your feet.

“He suffered from a bad back and is frightened now of taking customers late at night and he suffered a number of injuries and loss of earnings.”

Judge Mitchell said the offence was aggravated by the fact Deadman had targeted a taxi driver and this was his second conviction for robbery.

He also said the fact Deadman was drunk at the time was no mitigation.

His co-defendant Spendlove, of High Street, Wickford, was also due to be sentenced after she pleaded guilty to handling the stolen money.

Her case has been adjourned until Thursday, September 18.