A company boss caught on his own dash-cam deliberately driving his work van at a woman he believed had assaulted his partner has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.
Barry Walker attempted to murder Samantha Webster, 36, and her boyfriend Gerald Brown, 26, by driving the white Mercedes panel van towards them at up to 31 miles an hour as they stood chatting in the street to two friends.
He was still doing 28 miles per hour when he collided with them. Miss Webster, who was forced violently into an electricity junction box, suffered serious leg injuries, while Mr Brown escaped with minor injuries.
Walker was then caught on the dashcam racing off from the scene in Auchinairn, Glasgow, before the equipment also recorded him calling a friend. He was heard boasting how he "ran them over" and had "skelped" Miss Webster before stating he would have to ditch his van.
The incident, which took place at around 3pm on July 16, 2021, was said to have been have been sparked by a disturbance in a ScotMid store the night before, in which it was claimed that Walker's partner had been struck in the face by Miss Webster with an Irn-Bru bottle, fracturing and cutting her nose.
The alleged bottle attack was not reported to the police. At the High Court in Stirling, Walker, 35, was told by a judge that the charge of attempted murder was "clearly justified".
Judge Lord Summers said: "Whatever was going on... in effect you used your works van as a weapon. You drove in a way that was calculated to cause injury to persons on the pavement and it was a miracle that Samantha Webster was not killed."
On the day of the attack, Miss Webster and Mr Brown were with Samuel Wilson, 22, and 18 year-old Brandon McFadden standing near a lane in Clelland Avenue, Auchinairn. The group then became aware of a white Mercedes Panel van revving towards them.
Walker was heard saying "B*****ds!" as he approached. Alan Parfery, prosecuting, said the van, which was travelling at 25-30mph, had "targeted" the victims. They were unaware of it doing so, however, until "a split second " before it hit.
It was still doing 28 miles per hour at the point of impact. The dashcam footage was played in court and Miss Webster could be heard on it loudly yelling in pain as she was then hit. Her partner Mr Brown was also struck.
Mr Parfery, the advocate depute, said: "The impact caused Samantha Webster to be forced into an electrical box within a hedge behind her before she fell to the ground screaming."
Mr Wilson and Mr McFadden managed to run off, while Walker reversed and headed back onto the main road leaving his victims for dead. He then made a minute-long phone call to a friend confessing to what had happened.
On it, he told his friend, "Aye, I just ran them over - him and his f****** bird. He was talking to two other people, so don't say that to anybody. I skelped her - he ran out the way and I skelped her. I need to go and rid of the van. I think I have a f****** burst tyre."
Before abandoning the van in a lay-by next to a supermarket in nearby Robroyston, Walker was seen on camera checking for any damage to the vehicle. He was eventually collected by an associate and driven away.
Miss Webster was helped by a retired paramedic and an off-duty nurse as she lay in the street. The Good Samaritans had been alerted by shouts of: "They've hit Sam. They tried to kill Sam." Miss Webster, of Kirkintilloch, was treated for "severe injuries" to her left leg.
Mr Parfery said: "She was found to have two fractures to her knee, blood loss, and required extensive treatment including two separate surgeries." She has been left scarred for life and continues to have "limited movement" in her knee.
Mr Brown needed treatment for a minor wound to his wrist. Police probing the hit and run discovered the van was linked to a logistics firm that Walker worked for at the time. He was found to be the only person who had access to the vehicle that day.
Despite attempts, Walker could not initially be traced but the incriminating dash cam footage was seized from the van. It was almost a month later, when a police officer who was aware that Walker was a wanted man, spotted him by chance in his car outside his house in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire.
He was arrested, but made no comment. Walker, formerly listed as a director of a carrier company and said in court to be the boss of a gas firm, appeared for sentence by video link at the High Court in Stirling on Tuesday after pleading guilty earlier this month to assault causing severe injury, permanent disfigurement, permanent impairment, danger of life, and attempted murder.
Solicitor-advocate Marco Guarino, defending, said Walker "accepts he deliberately drove the van towards them [the victims] and fully accepts the consequences of his actions".
Mr Guarino said Walker had not been out looking for his victims, and it had been "purely coincidence" that he had recognised them. He said: "It was a spontaneous act of utter madness and misplaced rage.
"He bitterly regrets the action he took.His efforts to better himself and set up a business now lies in tatters." Walker showed no emotion as the sentence was passed.
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