DRIVER JAILED FOR MOWING DOWN OFF-DUTY COP
A driver who mowed down an off-duty policeman when confronted about sounding his horn at 6am was today (Mon) jailed for three-and-a-half years.
Nathan Phipps, 22, ran over Detective Inspector Peter Howarth then reversed back over him in a horrifying revenge attack.
Mr Howarth, 53, collapsed in a driveway and screamed ‘Don’t let him kill me’.
The keen marathon runner and triathlete had to undergo emergency surgery for a double fracture to his leg and had a metal frame attached to his leg to aid his recovery.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Mr Howarth has returned to work following the incident on November 21 last year but was unable to use public transport and faced daily reminders of the ‘catastrophic’ injuries.
Phipps was convicted by a jury last week of inflicting grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving.
Jailing the trainee electrician Judge Inigo Bing described the events as ‘appalling’.
‘Prior to the commission of this offence you behaved in a thoroughly anti-social way by sounding your horn continuously, thinking of no one except yourself,’ he said.
‘It was predictable that someone would come over and ask you to stop and that person was of course your victim Peter Howarth.
‘He did identify himself as a police officer and you totally disregarded him so he felt he had to arrest you.
‘He did break your car window and he did punch you when he thought you were going to fetch a weapon.
‘I am satisfied you did not have a weapon, but that’s what he believed so in a sense you only got what you deserved.
‘You then drove both dangerously, recklessly and deliberately towards Peter Howarth and the group that were nearby and took the obvious risk that injury would result, and very catastrophic injury did result.
‘There are elements of a revenge attack, because you were so angry by what had happened to you.
‘You then abandoned a gravely injured man who was screaming in agony from what you had done to him.’
The judge said the effect of Mr Howarth as ‘devastating’.
‘Not only did he suffer extreme pain at the time but he has had to undergo a long period of treatment,’ he said.
‘His athletic career has been cut short.
‘Having read his victim impact statement it’s obvious that he can’t, for example, use public transport.
‘His life had been very substantially disrupted and he had to live each day with the thought of what happened because it happened virtually outside his own home.’
The jury heard Phipps had driven to Overton Drive, Wanstead, east London, at around 6am, where his girlfriend was staying after the couple agreed to split up.
He was challenged by Mr Howarth along with several other neighbours for driving up and down the street, repeatedly sounding his horn to get his girlfriend’s attention.
Mr Howard asked Phipps to wind down his side window but fearing the driver was reaching for a weapon, smashed the glass and pulled him from the vehicle.
They spoke briefly, after which Phipps got back into the car as if to drive off.
But Phipps aimed the car at the pavement, floored the accelerator and careered straight into his victim.
He then reversed over the stricken detective after he collapsed in a driveway.
Neighbour John Woolnough, who was woken by the car horn said he remembered hearing a ‘dull thud and a piercing scream,’ after Phipps mowed down Mr Howarth for the first time.
He said Phipps then turned his car around and ‘floored it’ in reverse towards the driveway where Mr Howarth had collapsed.
Timothy Downes, who watched the incident from a first-floor bedroom in the street, said: ‘As the car went back I heard him shout “Don’t let him kill me”.’
Phipps was arrested two days later after he attended the police station with a solicitor.
Giving evidence, he claimed Mr Howarth did not identify himself as a police officer and he was ‘in a panic’ and ‘very afraid’ as he tried to drive off following the altercation.
He said he was not aware that he had hit anyone, though when he returned home, he noticed his car bumper was hanging off.
Asked he if deliberately drove at Mr Howarth, he replied: ‘I would never do that.
‘It was an accident what happened.’
‘It was an accident what happened.’
Phipps of (90) Stokes Road, East Ham, east London, was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm and dangerous driving but cleared of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
He was jailed for three-years and six months for inflicting grievous bodily harm and 15 months, concurrently, for dangerous driving.
He was also disqualified from driving for five years.
ENDS
