A Kingswood man who went into a jealous rage after his partner was dropped home by work colleagues has been jailed. Paul England was also banned from driving for three years after the incident in which he tried to run over his girlfriend's co-worker and then ploughed into police responding to the incident.
WalesOnline reports that the 39-year-old became "irate and angry" when he saw his partner get a lift back to her Newport home at around 5am on August 29 after a night out. England then got into the vehicle of her co-worker, Jake Powell, and caused the car to wheelspin before driving at him aggressively.
He also drove the vehicle at two of her other colleagues who had to flee. After terrifying his partner's colleagues, England drove off before returning to the scene of the crime and hitting a police officer with his vehicle.
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Speaking at a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday, prosecutor Julia Cox said: "Mr Powell was extremely scared. He thought the defendant was going to kill him by running him over. (England) made no attempt to slow down but Mr Powell managed to jump out the way."
England shouted at Mr Powell, got out of the car and went into Ms Davies' house before coming back out and getting into his Volkswagen Golf. He then tried to drive again at Mr Powell, who jumped into a hedge to take cover and called the police. The police arrived but the defendant had left the scene having reversed out of the street at speed with screeching tyres. But England returned to the street at 7.15am and upon seeing the police he tried to get back into his car and drive off.
A taser was pointed at England by one of the officers and one of the car doors had been opened but the defendant refused to get out and reversed the Golf into the police car. As he did this, he caught one of the officers who became trapped by the door and was briefly dragged by the car. The officer sustained scratches, bruises and reddening of the skin.
The Golf was later found abandoned in Gore Street, Newport, and the defendant was located nearby. He appeared drunk, smelt of liquor, had glazed eyes and was unsteady on his feet, but he refused to provide a specimen to police.
England, of Cotswold View, Kingswood, later pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous driving, assaulting an emergency worker, aggravated vehicle taking, criminal damage, failure to provide a specimen and driving with no insurance. The court heard he also had previous convictions for battery, assaults criminal damage and resisting police officers.
Defence barrister Richard Ace said his client suffered with "psychological and psychiatric difficulties" having been physically abused as a child and spending time in care. He said there had been a gap of 10 years since England's last conviction and the defendant believed he had been spiked with alcohol on the night of the offences.
Sentencing, Recorder RJ Philpotts said: "This was deliberately very dangerous driving." England was sentenced to a total of 27 months imprisonment and disqualified from driving for three years.
