Gavin Bathurst-Shaw-Binning, 46, is a a former technician at a ‘multinational defence and aviation company’ in Middlesex (Picture: Solent News/PA)
A man has been jailed after deliberately ramming cars at speeds of 130mph while high on drugs.
Gavin Bathurst-Shaw-Binning, 46, was on a ‘cocktail’ of cocaine, cannabis and alcohol as he drove his silver BMW 125 like an ‘absolute lunatic’ on the M3.
Viewing himself as the ‘enforcer of good driving’, he deliberately crashed into what he considered ‘bad drivers’ during a 30-mile rampage on the busy motorway before he was arrested.
He shunted the backs of nine cars during the half-hour spree of destruction, after which he punched the air in ‘triumphant victory’, a Winchester Crown Court heard.
Lee Tosswell in hospital after Bathurst-Shaw-Binning rammed his car (Picture: Solent News & Photo Agency)
Bathurst-Shaw-Binning even tried ‘grab or damage’ the wing mirror of a car, according to one witness.
Prosecutor Jane Terry said: ‘The motorway was closed for an hour, which I feel is quite short given the trail that Mr Bathurst-Shaw-Binning left behind him.’
One of his targets was a mother of three driving her Tesla toward the M3 around 5.15pm when Bathurst-Shaw-Binning hit the car up to eight times on June 16 last year.
Ms Terry said: ‘She felt an impact at the rear side of her car. She described seeing the silver BMW behind her and he was repeatedly, deliberately, ramming the rear of her vehicle.
‘She pulled into the middle lane in an attempt to get away from him but he followed her and rammed her again.’
The woman pulled her Tesla into the hard shoulder and the silver BMW ‘got away’.
Bathurst-Shaw-Binning told police his rampage was a ‘once in a lifetime moment’ after ‘years of bad driving of other people’ through ‘tailgating’, ‘lane hogging’, and ‘driving slow’.
Bathurst-Shaw-Binning added: ‘I want to open up everyone else to keeping the outside lane clear.’
Winchester Crown Court where Bathurst-Shaw-Binning was handed a nine-year sentence, six of which he’ll spend in prison (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA)
Judge Angela Morris described it as ‘pandemonium on a busy motorway in rush hour’.
Another driver said he had ‘never seen such dangerous, substandard driving’.
The incident started near Junction 2 of the motorway near Chertsey, Surrey after Bathurst-Shaw-Binning, who’d been drinking beer, decided he wanted to get some cigarettes while at a friend’s house.
During the rampage, which caused motorway queues of up to six miles, Bathurst-Shaw-Binning was seen tailgating cars, ‘swerving’ between lanes, and ‘undertaking’ other vehicles, according to a witness.
The prosecutor told the court: ‘He described the defendant to be driving like an absolute lunatic and he was shocked that he didn’t kill anyone.’
One driver, Lee Tosswill, thought he was about to die when Bathurst-Shaw-Binning crashed into the back of his vehicle, which spun him around to face oncoming traffic.
Ms Terry told the court: ‘He ended up on the hard shoulder. He described feeling a sudden pain in his neck and in his head.’
Witnesses saw Bathurst-Shaw-Binning ‘shake the air with his fist’ and ‘jumping up and down and shouting yeah’ while looking at the aftermath of the destruction.
One of these witnesses, Abbie Baker, said he then climbed into her vehicle saying ‘We need to go and see Charlie’.
She described him as being ‘incoherent and off his face’.
Ms Terry said: ‘He was targeting those whose standard of driving did not meet his expectations of driving.
‘He sees himself as some kind of enforcer of good driving and only targeted those who he considered were driving badly.’
Bathurst-Shaw-Binning – a former technician at a ‘multinational defence and aviation company’ in Middlesex – pleaded guilty to one count of dangerous driving, and four counts of causing criminal damage by driving recklessly.
Apologising through his lawyer Islam Khan, Bathurst-Shaw-Binning said: ‘I don’t know what happened to me that day and I don’t know why I was so stupid that my remorse did not appear when interviewed.’
Mitigating, Mr Khan said Bathurst-Shaw-Binning takes ‘full responsibility’ for his actions.
Mr Khan told the court: ‘Ramming like a maniac on that road on the 16th of June at that busy time… I don’t know what was going through his mind.
‘It sent shivers through my spine that if that were somebody else… what would I be doing.
‘I asked [Bathurst-Shaw-Binning] ‘What do you have to say about your actions’. He put his head down in shame and said ‘Sincerely, I am sorry as to what I have done’.’
Jailing Bathurst-Shaw-Binning for six years, Judge Morris said: ‘You got into your BMW car in a very angry state fuelled by drugs to return home.
‘You took the view drivers on smart motorways – which that part of the M3 was – were incompetent and had no idea how to drive.
‘That put you in a rage and as a result, you took it upon yourself to teach them a lesson.
‘This lesson took the form of driving in the most erratic fashion, at speeds which were, on your admission, in excess of 120 to 130 miles per hour.”
She added: ‘It’s a wonder and a mercy no one was killed.’
Bathurst-Shaw-Binning of Egham, Surrey, was handed a nine year sentence. He will serve six of them in custody.
He will also pay a statutory surcharge of £187 and has been disqualified from driving for 10 years.
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