London -
A grandmother used her 4x4 to mow down her neighbour in a dispute over a driveway.
Jean Glyde, 68, twice drove directly at farmer Jonathan Tunley in an argument about access, forcing him up on to the bonnet.
Moments earlier she had revved the engine of her Hyundai Santa Fe at Mr Tunley’s 17-year-old son Jac as he walked the family dog and then pinned the teenager against a fence by driving into a grit box.
When Mr Tunley arrived to intervene, the pensioner told him to stay off the driveway, adding: “Shut up. You’re scum and all your family are scum”.
The 38-year-old father of two said: “She reversed back, blowing on the horn and went flat out at me. I thought, ‘She’s going to stop’, but she hit me from behind, scooping me up on to the bonnet and windscreen.
“I crawled off and carried on walking. Then she came at me again and scooped me up. She looked mad.”
He added: “I have played rugby all my life and I have never been so scared as I was that night. It used to be quite peaceful around here. She is a neighbour from hell.”
A court heard the neighbours had been in dispute since Glyde - who lives in a £650 000 home with four acres of meadows - apparently objected to a planning application from the Tunley household to build an extension at their village home in South Wales. Then on May 27, 2012 at around 10.20pm Glyde was driving down the driveway when she saw Jac Tunley walking his dog across the road.
Jac said the defendant “glared” at him before revving the engine behind him. She then struck a yellow grit box next to him which caused him to be pinned against a fence with the dog.
Jac phoned his father who arrived at the scene and started shouting at Glyde who told him he had no right of way on the land.
When Mr Tunley started walking up the road, Glyde revved her engine and drove straight at him. Mr Tunley suffered injuries to his neck and shoulder, which resulted in the loss of a hay crop because he was unable to harvest it.
Byron Broadstock, prosecuting, said Glyde was part of a “neighbourly dispute” as to whether Mr Tunley and his family had right of way to a piece of land.
It emerged on Monday night that the neighbours’ properties are reached by different roads. Glyde and her husband, a member of the Round Table, say their driveway is for the exclusive use of themselves and their direct neighbours. But Mr Tunley admits his children use it to cut a mile off their daily walk to school.
Glyde, of Henllys, near Cwmbran, Gwent, admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was fined £750 with £1 225 costs at Cardiff Crown Court. Jennet Treharne, defending, said Glyde had panicked, adding: “This is very much out of character. She has always contributed to the community and is well thought of. She was devastated by being arrested and held in police custody.”
Recorder Nicholas Gareth Jones told Glyde: “You were reckless as to what you did.”
On Monday night Glyde denied opposing Mr Tunley’s planning application and added: “I wouldn’t hurt a fly. I’ve never had a parking ticket or a traffic fine in my life.” - Daily Mail