Prison for man who drove into clubbers

The clubbers were knocked down like skittles, fleeing in terror from drunken Lee Anthony Bradley, 26, as he sped along the pavement in a Saab 93, Bolton Crown Court heard yesterday.

Fourteen people were taken to hospital following the incident last October outside bars in Packer Street, Rochdale.

The court heard it was a “miracle” no one was killed.

Bradley handed himself in to police two weeks later and admitted a string of offences committed in the incident in the early hours of Sunday, October 17.

Judge William Morris said Bradley, already a convicted killer with a conviction for manslaughter from when he was just 16, posed a danger to the public and must remain behind bars until it was considered safe to release him.

Judge Morris, Recorder of Bolton, passed an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection, ruling Bradley must serve a minimum of six years.

Passing sentence, he said: “You were deliberately using this motor vehicle as a weapon, a fearsome weapon. So many were injured by what you did, it is a truly exceptional feature of this case.

“As for their injuries, any one of them could have been so much worse, one or more of them could so easily have been killed.”

Bradley already had two previous convictions for drink-driving and was banned from driving for life. High on a cocktail of drink and cocaine, he was seen to be laughing as he drove at the pedestrians, the court heard.

He had been thrown out of the Dali Bar for being “extremely drunk”, and tried to push his way back in, threatening the doormen before bouncer Ben Pickup pushed him to the ground.

Bradley warned: “I will have you...Watch this now.”

A minute later he mounted the pavement outside the bar, “levelled” the car at Mr Pickup and drove at him, missing him by inches. Bradley ploughed on, accelerating down the broad pavement, running over and scattering shocked revellers.

Bystanders were flung over the bonnet while dozens more had to dive out of the way of the car.

Bradley slammed on the brakes at the end of the street, pedestrians rolling off the bonnet, before he ran them over too. At least 20 people were injured.

“The defendant left a scene of devastation,” prosecutor Michael Morley said.

The worst injured man suffered multiple skull fractures. Others have suffered long-term consequences of anxiety.

Bradley pleaded guilty to one count of attempted grievous bodily harm, two counts of Section 20 assault, 10 other assaults, aggravated taking of a motor vehicle and dangerous driving.

Anthony Morris, mitigating, said his client had a problem with drink and cocaine, but that he was “not bad by nature.”