A THUG attacked a taxi driver and stole his cab – only to discover his victim was a former GP who had twice saved his grandfather’s life.

Stephen Moorcroft wept when police told him the elderly taxi driver he had beaten and left in the street was a doctor who had previously treated his grandfather.

When the 28-year-old’s mother discovered what he had done, she was so disgusted that she disowned him.

Former GP Inder Singh had twice saved her father’s life while working in Liverpool before retiring in 1999.

Jailing Moorcroft indefinitely, Judge Sean Duncan said: “This was a thuggish attack on a defenceless man who was going about his lawful occupation.

“And, as it turns out, he had done your family a great deal of good in the past.

“You didn’t know that, but it just shows that when you are dealing with folk you can never tell and so you have to live with that.”

Liverpool Crown Court heard that, at 3am on January 8, Mr Singh had picked Moorcroft and a male and female friend up in Bootle.

But as he dropped the trio off in Hollinghurst Road, Kirkby, they refused to pay and dragged him from the car.