A MAN who savagely attacked a Southampton taxi driver with a hammer during a robbery has been locked up indefinitely.

Cabbie Gulab Taak has been left with a permanent scar on his forehead following the terrifying ordeal, in which Stacy Davies stole his night’s takings of around £125.

The 23-year-old, of Graham Street, Southampton, launched the attack after telling Mr Taak to stop his taxi at the junction of Spring Crescent and Woodside Road in Portswood on November 19 last year.

He chillingly asked the driver if he had ever been involved in a robbery before, and then produced a hammer from his pocket and began swinging it wildly at his petrified victim, who believes he was only saved from further injury because Davies accidentally hit the car’s rear view mirror.

At Southampton Crown Court, Davies was jailed indefinitely because he poses such a risk to the public.

Judge Gary Burrell said he must serve at least three years, minus 160 days already spent in custody, before he can apply for parole.

He said: “You’re a young man with an extremely troubled background, you’ve had a terrible childhood, but the reality is you have a bad record of offences, and particularly for violent offences.

“It is impossible to predict when it will be safe to release you on licence into the community.”

Read the full story in Saturday's Daily Echo.