Robbie Cheetham, 23, pictured, launched into a fit of fury when the motorbike rider accidentally clipped the door of his Audi A5 and went in search of the 26-year-old biker
A raging driver who smashed into a parked motorcyclist, breaking his legs in a horrific ‘revenge’ attack has been jailed for 11 years.
Robbie Cheetham, 23, launched into a fit of fury when the motorbike rider accidentally clipped the door of his Audi A5 and went in search of the 26-year-old biker.
‘The prosecution say that this case is about revenge,’ said prosecutor Shaun Dodds at Teesside Crown Court on Tuesday.
‘He drove a considerable way for that single purpose, looking for him, and ultimately he found him.’
Furious at the damage to his car, he found his target on Broadway West, Dormanstown, Redcar.
Mr Dodds said: ‘The defendant drove at speed swerving on to the other side of the road and driving head-on into (the biker) on his motorbike.
‘He’s just sitting there on his bike checking the damage and the defendant drives at speed towards him.’
A witness estimated Cheetham was driving at about 60mph on the 30mph road when he caused the scene of ‘carnage’ on a sunny summer’s night.
The collision threw the motorcyclist from his bike, which skidded under the Audi on the narrow road, Teesside Crown Court heard.
Cheetham’s driving was fast, and forceful enough to push a parked Vauxhall Mokka the length of three houses down the street.
The victim said he heard the engine revving, saw Cheetham heading for him, his mind went blank and he tried to get up but collapsed in the street with his legs in ‘unbearable’ pain.
He was found lying in the road with bones visible from open fractures to his left and right lower legs.
The collision threw the motorcyclist from his bike, which skidded under the Audi on the narrow road, Teesside Crown Court heard
There were fears his left leg might have to be amputated, but his legs were saved with five operations, and he needed skin grafts during his month-long stay in hospital.
The dad-of-four later said in a statement: ‘I can’t help but think I could easily have been killed.
‘I wish I hadn’t gone to Dormanstown. The decision has changed my life and will haunt me forever.’
He said he could walk short distances with a limp months on, but he would never fully recover and could not take a job as a labourer.
‘I’m just grateful that I’ve survived this incident and have not lost any body parts and will be able to watch my children grow up,’ he said.
The trouble erupted as a crowd dispersed from a fight, not involving either of the drivers, on a green area known as ‘the cornfields’ at about 6.30pm on August 13 last year.
After the crash Cheetham was chased by two men, before he barged into a house and then fled to Scotland.
Paul Abrahams, defending, said: ‘This was a hot-headed action and reaction to events. This was a momentary thing with tragic consequences. The defendant took the stupid decision. He didn’t fully consider the consequences.’ The scene is pictured
He was arrested days later at Wetherby Services and initially claimed the crash was an accident.
Cheetham, of Kirkleatham Lane, Redcar, admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent on Monday.
He was under a suspended sentence at the time, imposed for dangerous driving in March 2016. He was captured on CCTV crashing into a parked car in a powerful BMW in Redcar after a police chase in the early hours of the morning.
Paul Abrahams, defending, said: ‘This was a hot-headed action and reaction to events.
‘This was a momentary thing with tragic consequences. The defendant took the stupid decision. He didn’t fully consider the consequences.’
He said the victim had done nothing wrong and Cheetham had no previous problems with him.
He said Cheetham had been having trouble with a local group damaging his property – not involving the victim – and wrongly thought the same people clipped his car.
Mr Abrahams added: ‘He has no previous convictions for serious violence.
This is by far and away the most serious offence on his record. He has never been to custody before.’
Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, told Cheetham: ‘He had done nothing towards you. You had done nothing towards him. You clearly were hot-headed.
‘What you did was cause very serious injuries; injuries from which he will suffer for a significant period of his life, indeed for most of his life.
‘A motor car is a weapon, a dangerous weapon certainly in the wrong hands, someone like you who drives dangerously.’
He jailed Cheetham for 11 years and banned him from driving for seven years.