Car chase and smashed windscreen "like something out of a TV drama"

Friday 22 January 2021

Angry and confused following a chance meeting with his ex-partner, a 26-year-old followed her and her new boyfriend before jumping on the man's car bonnet and smashing in his windscreen.

Scott Le Page was sentenced to 10 months in prison for causing criminal damage to the man's BMW, assaulting him, dangerous driving and drink driving.

Le Page and his ex were both in the Foresters Arms one night in October, crossing paths unexpectedly shortly after their break-up.

Later on in the evening, she called her new boyfriend to pick her up. The BMW drove to the Iceland car park at St Martin's, at which point the woman noticed Le Page's van entering behind them. 

The defendant got out of his van and, after seeing the BMW start to reverse away from him, jumped onto the bonnet and started punching the windscreen, causing shattered glass to fall upon the woman's new boyfriend. 

Pictured: Scott Le Page has been sent back to Les Nicolles Prison for 10 months. 

They started driving off, causing Le Page to fall off the bonnet and hit the ground. He then got back into his van and pursued the couple, leading to a high-speed car chase. 

While pursuing them along Fort Road, Le Page - who was driving too closely behind the pair - rammed into the back of it after the BMW was forced to brake because of a car ahead. 

In their victim impact statements, they described the fear they felt, adding that they felt a "jolt" when Le Page "rammed into" the BMW. 

The chase continued until, in a moment of "clarity", Le Page stopped following the couple. 

Defence Advocate Sam Steel said his client, who was released from prison in 2017 after a Royal Court sentence for GBH, had spiralled into depression after the sudden break-up and was "using alcohol to self-medicate".

Advocate Steel said the ex-partner had been unfaithful and that her behaviour towards Le Page at the pub had left him feeling "confused and angry". He then followed them out the Foresters, despite knowing he had consumed alcohol, making the first in a succession of "mistakes" that had led him back to Guernsey's Courts. 

Pictured: Le Page was sentenced for grievous bodily harm in the Royal Court back in 2016. 

£7,678.94 of damage was caused to the BMW, which the victim described as his "dream car". However his insurance would only offer him £2,307 as a settlement, as the necessary repairs were worth significantly more than the car itself.

The Court was told of damage to the windscreen, roof, bonnet and that repairs were complicated by the fact that shattered glass had got into the air conditioning unit. Advocate Steel said this matter would be better dealt with in a Civil Court. 

Judge Gary Perry said Le Page's bad record posed a continuing risk to others, saying it was only by luck that nobody had been injured or worse on that fateful night.

"The events I have heard about are something I might see on a TV drama, not in our small and relatively peaceful community."

"You were drinking and you reacted to a sad situation that many people have to deal with in their lives.

"You totally lost self-control and you present a continuing risk of harm to others."

Le Page was sentenced to 10 months in prison for the offences, disqualified from driving for four years and fined £400 as compensation to the victim.