Man, 25, jailed for test drive attack on car salesman (From Gazette)

Man, 25, jailed for test drive attack on car salesman

8:00am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in News

A MAN who attacked a car salesman with a rock during a test drive has been jailed for four years and seven months.

James Lamberth booked a test drive in an £80,000 Range Rover at Lookers in Cowdray Avenue, Colchester, a court heard.

Lamberth, 25, of Stable Road, Colchester, had driven on the A12, but demanded salesman James Hunt get out of the car on the way back to Colchester.

He hit Mr Hunt three times with the rock before Mr Hunt got out near the Albert pub in Cowdray Avenue and the vehicle sped off.

Mr Hunt was left with cuts, bruises and lumps on his head.

It did not take long to trace Lamberth because Lookers had his details on file following an earlier contact with the company.

Lamberth had used his grandfather’s phone to book the test drive on October 31 last year.

Lamberth was told by a Chelmsford Crown Court judge it must have been a terrifying experience for Mr Hunt.

Judge Karen Walden-Smith said: “You armed yourself with a rock and Mr Hunt bore the brunt of what was going through your mind that day.

“Mr Hunt was simply doing his job and this must have been a terrifying incident for him to be involved in.”

Lamberth admitted a robbery charge and another of breaking into his father’s house in Lexden Road, Colchester, when he appeared in court.

He took a bottle of wine and clothes worth £300 during the break-in on October 30.

He was jailed for a total of four years and seven months.

At the time of the robbery Lamberth was under the conditions of a six-week suspended prison sentence imposed for sending explicit text messages to a former girlfriend.

Stephen Dyble, mitigating, told the court Lamberth’s problems stemmed from his addiction to drugs and alcohol.

Mr Dyble said efforts had been made to help him, but they had not been successful.

He said: “Drink and drugs are demons he has been unable to conquer.”