Jealous Doncaster driver ran ex-partner off the road in "fit of rage"

Nicholas Holland began following the woman in his VW van on the A60, at 4.30pm, on May 28, said prosecutor James Gould.

He drove level and then swerved in front of her, causing her to "brake harshly" and turn the car around.

But Holland caught up with her by the White Hart pub, in Wadworth, and smashed into her car, blowing out a tyre and causing the car to spin.

"He got out, opened the driver's door and tried to grab her but she managed to drive away," Mr Gould said.

Holland gave chase and rammed into the back of the car where her five-year-old daughter was sitting.

"He got out, pulled her by the hair and punched her five times in the face," Mr Gould said. "He shouted: "Who's in the car with you? I will kill you.""

Holland told police he was “trying to see who she was travelling with” and claimed she had slapped him.

Richard Thynne, mitigating, said it was a "thoroughly unpleasant and cowardly incident" and Holland "can make no excuses and he doesn't intend to do so."

But he urged the judge to suspend a prison sentence because a job as a digger operator remains open to him, and this would help him tackle mental health problems.

The court heard Holland is considered a “risk to future partners” by probation officers, but Mr Thynne said a “stringent building better relationships programme,” unpaid work and a curfew would “serve the community better.”

Holland, 30, of Cliffe View Road, Denaby Main, Doncaster, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and assault.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, told Holland: “You exhibited jealous rage. There is no question you sought to intimidate her.”

He sentenced him to 12 months in prison, banned him for 26 months and imposed a five-year restraining order.

“There is an element of mercy in that - mercy that you did not show to your partner,” Judge Richardson told him.

Read the latest cases from Sheffield Crown Court here.

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