Man used his car to pin partner's ex-boyfriend against shutters in Castleford after 'domestic fallout'

Jason Challoner, 26, of Exchange Street in Normanton, used his car “as a weapon” and drove into the man and his friend after they came to meet him in Castleford on April 23 last year. He was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday) to 14 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to one charge of dangerous driving.

Prosecuting, Jade Edwards said that the man was lured into meeting Challoner after receiving a text from his former partner the day before saying that someone would drop their child off to him. He then received a call from a male voice on a private number asking where the child should be dropped off.

When the man asked who it was, the voice replied in a “threatening and disconcerting” manner: “You will find out who I am tomorrow”

The victim then arranged to meet his former partner at a sandwich shop on Wood Green to find out what was happening. Because he didn’t have a car, the man’s friend drove him there and parked behind the shop.

They then walked to the front where they found a car with Challoner inside that “appeared to be waiting for them”. Challoner began to shout and swear before driving “very fast and aiming for the two of them”. He shouted “you’re dead” before forcing the dad into the shutters of a shop, “effectively squeezing him between the shutters and the car”.

The victim’s friend tried to open the door of the car to stop Challoner but he reversed backwards and dragged him along the ground. Challoner then tried driving at him again but he was able to escape to a main road.

Challoner then tried to hit his girlfriend’s ex-partner again but he jumped over a railing to safety.

Police were contacted and arrested Challoner, who later admitted to the offence and said that it happened as a result of a “domestic fallout”. Ms Edwards said: “He held his hands up and said ‘I did it. It is what it is’.

"He didn’t care about what he did.”

Both men suffered injuries to their legs, with one of the men saying that it had left him “shocked and upset” and that he was “worried the defendant will try to get him again”.

Sentencing Challoner, Ms Recorder Olivia Checa-Dover said: “In my judgement this was highly dangerous driving at the top end of the spectrum. It was not that you had complete disregard for the safety of others, it was your positive intention to hurt another and you succeeded. It’s by luck alone that more serious injuries were not sustained.”

She said that the offence was “so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence will do” and so Challoner was sentenced to 14 months in prison, which he will serve half before being released on license. He was also disqualified from driving for 25 months.