Three men who were charged in connection with an alleged incident of racial abuse against a Sikh taxi river have had their cases dismissed.

Billy-Sam Shervell, Frankie Gregory and Dean Smith were charged with racially and religiously-aggravated criminal damage after an incident in a taxi travelling from Reading to Basingstoke on September 19, 2020.

Sikh taxi driver Vaneet Singh had allegedly been racially abused and assaulted, and his taxi damaged. He claimed that a headrest was removed and thrown from the cab.

Shervell, 21, , of Station Road in Minety, was one of three men charged in connection with the incident, and had his case dismissed by District Judge Timothy Pattinson last week.

He was due to stand trial at Basingstoke Magistrates’ Court on January 4, having denied the charge in July.

District Judge Pattinson also dismissed the case of co-defendant, Frankie Gregory.

The 20-year-old, of Moat Close, Bramley, Hampshire, faced a charge of racially and religiously-aggravated common assault.

Dean Smith,20, of Paices Hill, Aldermaston, Berkshire, was found not guilty after a trial. He was cleared of four counts of racially and religiously-aggravated assault, as well as a racially and religiously-aggravated public order offence, theft of a phone charger and threatening to commit criminal damage to the vehicle.