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Jun
Boroughbridge man whose road rage led to ‘unprovoked attack’ avoids jail
A man required dental treatment after another man repeatedly punched him in the face in a Harrogate road-rage incident.
James Barker, 42, admitted assault causing actual bodily harm and criminal damage in March, but returned to Harrogate Magistrates Court on Thursday (May 28) for sentence.
Prosecutor Sarah Tyrer told the court on the morning of October 17, 2024, a named man was driving along Ripon Road towards the town centre.
Traffic was heavy due to temporary lights in operation, but as the man tried to turn onto Coppice Drive, his way was blocked by a van driven by Barker.
The man manged to turn onto Coppice Drive, Ms Tyrer said, but as he pulled alongside Barker’s van, the defendant was “waving his arms” and shouting at the man.
A road-rage incident then ensued.
The court heard as the man drove along Coppice Drive, Barker’s van “came up beside” him on the other side of the road, and the man believed Barker was going to “ram him off the road”.
“[Victim] was worried about this as there were two pedestrians on the pavement”, Mr Tyrer said.
She added:
[Victim] stopped the car and both he and the defendant got out. [Victim] says the defendant came towards him and subjected him to a barrage of abuse.
Barker, of Swale Close in Langthorpe, near Boroughbridge, then repeatedly punched the man in the face.
The man sustained a cut to his cheek and his glasses were knocked off his face and broke on the ground.
He reported the incident to the police, the court heard, and the two nearby pedestrians also corroborated his account to officers.
One of the witnesses said they had been walking down Coppice Drive at around 10.15am that day, when they noticed a road-rage incident.
The witness said Barker’s van tried to pass a car at speed but there wasn’t enough room, before the van driver got out and “punched [victim] in the face”.
Ms Tyrer said the witness shouted at Barker during the assault, telling him to stop and said he was “the witness to this assault”.
“The defendant then rushed back to his van and sped off”, the court was told.
Self-defence claim
Barker made his own report of the incident to police.
Ms Tyrer said:
He told police he was the victim of a road-rage incident and said [victim] was the aggressor.
Ms Tyrer added the man at one point grabbed Barker by the throat, but it was accepted that this happened after he had been punched several times.
During a police interview in March last year, Barker admitted the attack but claimed he acted in self-defence.
The man provided a victim personal statement in January this year, when he said the incident has had a "profound and lasting impact" on his daily life.
He said he has suffered “significant financial loss” following to the attack, due to paying for dental treatment and new glasses, and it took seven months for him to return to work.
Defence
The case was previously adjourned for a pre-sentence report, but the report wasn’t read aloud in open court.
Andrew Coleman, defending, told the magistrates Barker had never been in trouble with the police before and had no previous convictions.
He runs a “successful business”, Mr Coleman said, but said things went “a bit wrong” on the day of the incident.
“He acted out of impulse and he knows he shouldn’t have done it”, Mr Coleman added.
Mr Coleman said:
Mr Barker is a family man… he has no criminogenic needs.
This was a short-lived assault that was very out of character. No significant injury was caused to the victim… no weapon was used and it was a spontaneous, relatively short-lived [assault] from someone of previous good character.
Mr Coleman conceded the attack was “indeed unpleasant and not acceptable”, but insisted it was “spontaneous”.
He said Barker is remorseful and had admitted the offences at the first opportunity.
Passing sentence, the chair of the magistrates’ bench said:
This was a totally unprovoked attack on an innocent member of the public.
Barker was sentenced to 12 weeks’ custody, suspended for 12 months.
He was also ordered to pay £1,600 to the court, including compensation to the victim.
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