A jealous boyfriend who tried to run over his partner's male colleague and then injured a police officer has been jailed. Paul England carried out the shocking attack on August 29, when his girlfriend Patricia Davies was dropped home from a night out.
The 39-year-old became "irate and angry" and jumped into the car of Ms Davies' colleague Jake Powell before driving at him aggressively. He also drove at two of her other colleagues who had fled the car in fright.
Speaking at a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday (April 25), 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."
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WalesOnline reports that England shouted at Mr Powell, got out of the car and went into Ms Davies' house in Newport 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.
During a later confrontation with the police the same morning, England refused to get out the vehicle despite a taser being pointed at him by one of the officers. He then reversed the Golf into the police car and caught one of the officers, who became trapped by the door and was briefly dragged by the car.
The officer suffering scratches, bruises and reddening of the skin. The Golf was later found abandoned in Gore Street in Newport, and the defendant, who appeared drunk and smelt of liquor, was found nearby.
England, of Cotswold View in Kingswood, South Gloucestershire, 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. 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 added 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 behind bars and disqualified from driving for three years.
