A motorist who deliberately ran over a cyclist after the victim spat on his luxury Land Rover during a road rage row has been jailed for 18 months.
Retired engineer Alan Moult, 74, left Nick Cook with multiple injuries after accelerating over him “in a moment of madness” in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in July 2020, a court was told.
Moments earlier, Moult had lost his temper when Cook accidentally collided with his vehicle at a set of traffic lights after a bin lorry stopped suddenly in front of him.
Dashcam footage recorded Moult’s wife, Irene, begging him to avoid the confrontation as Moult sped after the victim, blaming him for damaging the wing mirror on his Freelander.
“It’s not worth it – don’t, love,” she said.
He ignored her and caught up with Cook to argue with him on the roadside. After Cook spat on the Land Rover bonnet, Moult got back in the driver’s seat, put his foot down and crushed the victim under the wheels of the car, Minshull Street crown court in Manchester heard.
As Cook lay seriously injured, Moult called him a “prick”.
The victim was left with his pelvis broken in two places, six broken ribs and a punctured liver. He later lost his job and is now too scared to cycle. He still cannot bend over to tie his shoelaces, the court heard.
This week, Moult admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was also given a three-year road ban, which will start when he is released from prison.
In mitigation, his defence counsel, Rachel Shenton, said there was “a certain amount of goading” from Cook in the run-up to the attack, but that Moult expressed “bitter regret” for what he had done.
“Had his vehicle not been damaged this would never have happened. It was a moment of madness,” she told the court.
Sentencing Moult, the judge, Recorder Dan Prowse, said of Cook’s spitting: ‘‘It was plainly a provocative act but your response was grossly disproportionate. You deliberately drove into and over Mr Cook, accelerating hard as you did so having aimed your vehicle directly at him and he went under your vehicle.
“Your wife was shrieking and was plainly frightened but your response, knowing you had just run that man down, was to say the word: ‘prick’.
‘‘You were consumed by anger and wanted a confrontation with Mr Cook. You deliberately ran that man down in anger in an action that could have been fatal.’’
