July 2003 Sex shame cabbie ‘should not have licence’ – judge A TAXI driver who had sex with a drunken schoolgirl in the back of his cab has been told his actions were ‘totally morally reprehensible’ by a judge. Damien Percival, aged 40, of Mond Road, Widnes was given a community rehabilitation order at Warrington Crown Court last Friday for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old. And Judge David Hale told the court: “I would hope Percival never gets his taxi licence back, he doesn’t deserve one.” Andrew Thomas, prosecuting, said the girl said she told Percival she was only 14, but he said the prosecution accepted she had told him she was 18 and that the sex was consensual. The court heard that the girl, originally from Widnes, had been drinking and smoking cannabis with a friend at a house in Hough Green. A relative called a taxi and Percival picked them up at around 1.40am. After dropping off the friend, the court heard Percival took the girl to a car park after some ‘sexual banter’. The court was told that Percival asked for a Christmas kiss, and the pair moved to the back seat where they had sex. The girl told police she had gone along with it because she was drunk. Judge David Hale told Percival: “You, as a taxi driver, took advantage in a predatory way of a woman you thought was drunk.” He told Percival that, for a 40-year-old, his behaviour with an 18-year-old was “totally morally reprehensible” but added: “I’m not here to sentence you for that.” Percival was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.