A MORECAMBE man who rammed a car while his estranged wife and son sat inside has been jailed for two years.

Derek Tierney deliberately drove his Transit van into the side of the Metro while it was parked outside a shop in Lancaster.

Preston Crown Court heard that 38-year-old Tierney then reached through the window of the car and tried to drag his terrified wife out by her neck. This caused her to black out, the court was told.

Tierney, of Paul Street, Morecambe, pleaded guilty to charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to Pamela Tierney, damaging the Metro while being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, and criminal damage to another car.

Jailing him, assistant Recorder Robert Warnock, told Tierney: "You deliberately, at least twice, drove a Transit van at this Metro containing your wife and 10-year-old son.

"That was a vicious and dangerous attack. Thereafter you attempted to drag her out of that vehicle and it took at least three members of the public to stop what can only be described as a berserk attack."

The court heard that Tierney and his wife were separated at the time of the incident. She had gone to the B&Q store in Lancaster to meet her mother and while talking to her in the car park, Tierney drove up in his van.

He aimed a punch at his wife and she sought refuge inside her mother's Metro with her son.

Prosecutor Elizabeth Nicholls said: "The defendent then got into his van and rammed the Metro. Mrs Tierney and her son were extremely frightened."

Jonathan Parr, defending, told the court that Tierney accepted he had completely lost control that day.

He said: "This was a bad example of domestic violence gone wrong. Tierney is ashamed of what he did."

But passing sentence, assistant Recorder Warnook said the fact it was a domestic dispute did not make the offence any less serious.

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