Man was hurled over car roof when he was run over in ‘mindless’ road rage attack

Horrified eye witnesses saw the masked driver turn his black Seat Leon round twice on Southfield Lane in Great Horton before flinging the victim on to the bonnet and right over the car.

He sustained multiple injuries including a fractured nose, a hematoma to his forehead, a shoulder injury and cuts and abrasions.

The entrance to Southfield Lane in Great Horton. Picture: Google Street View

The assailant was identified as Paul Webster, 39, of Francis Street, Leeds. He pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm and dangerous driving and was jailed for three years.

Prosecutor Mehran Nassiri told Bradford Crown Court today that Webster had a criminal record that contained 18 convictions for 30 offences, including drug trafficking, possession of a knife, actual bodily harm and assaulting police officers.

Mr Nassiri said the incident began on the slip road from the M606 into Bradford at 8.45pm on December 28 last year.

The victim, a passenger in a car with a child on board, asked Webster what he was looking at when the vehicles were drawn up side by side.

The Seat then followed the car being driven by the victim’s partner into Bradford.

Webster stopped to put on a mask or balaclava and then swerved towards the victim who had got out of the car at a shop.

His partner was so afraid for the child that she drove a short distance to park the car.

Webster then clipped the man with his wing mirror before driving at him again and flipping him over the bonnet and the roof.

A male eye witness told the police he couldn’t believe what he had just seen, describing it as ‘like something out a film.’ He said he saw the Seat execute two three-point turns in the road, driving at the victim at least twice. The car hit him and he rolled over the bonnet and the roof.

An ambulance was called and the man was taken to the accident and emergency department at Bradford Royal Infirmary. He had a CT scan and his arm was put in a sling.

He told the police the injuries had impacted on his life.

Michael Collins, Webster’s barrister, said he had the offer of employment as a labourer, starting on Monday.

He was the carer for his mother who had COPD, cancer and arthritis.

Mr Collins conceded: “This was an appalling piece of behaviour by the defendant.”

He told the court ‘the first exchange’ came from the complainant who asked Webster: “What are you looking at?”

Webster then got carried away in the moment, showing ‘a high degree of poor judgement,’ Mr Collins said.

He had been recalled to prison on licence for two months before being released on bail.

Recorder Anthony Hawks said Webster’s previous convictions included offences of violence, disorder and damage. He was jailed for three years in 2019 and on licence when he committed the latest offences.

This was ‘a mindless confrontation’ with the victim who was a passenger in a car driven by his female partner with a child on board.

Webster had followed the vehicle from the M606 slip road, put on a balaclava or face covering and deliberately run the man over. He had sustained serious but not life-threatening injuries.

Webster had ‘no insight whatsoever’ into what he had done. His response was that it was an accident and to blame the victim.

Recorder Hawks said he had used the car as a weapon while on licence and with a woman and child witnessing the attack, as well as members of the public who had to watch a man being thrown in the air.

Webster had pleaded guilty on the day of his trial, having originally been charged with causing grievous bodily harm.

He was jailed for three years and banned from driving for three years and until he pass-es an extend retest.