Mum Jailed For Mowing Down Cyclist During 'Road Rage' Row

Three Years: Natalie Pyne

A mum-of-six with a car full of screaming children, who mounted the pavement to mow down an autistic cyclist during a dramatic 'road rage' row in which she also demolished a beauty salon, was jailed for three years yesterday.

Jobless courier Natalie Pyne, 31, had five youngsters in her powerful three-litre Audi Q7 turbo-diesel, which weighs over three metric tonnes, when she cut-up Simon Edgely, 43, causing him to bump into the rear of her vehicle.

Judge Susan Tapping told her: "You lost your temper. You must have put your foot down, witnesses heard the tyres screech. The cyclist was knocked off an either went over the bonnet and rolled off or was dragged along.

"Unable to stop you ploughed into the ground floor of a beauty salon, which demolished the front and caused glass and debris to reign down in a frightening manor.

"You were out of control and in a rage it boiled over very quickly. You had five children in the car and they must have been terrified by your subsequent actions and it is a great pity you did not think more of them at the time.

"That is the terror you subjected them to," added the judge, also disqualifying Pyne for four years and ordering her to complete an extended driving test - her second - before she is allowed back on the roads.

As a friend of Pyne's sobbed in the Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court public gallery the defendant shouted as she was led to the cells: "Don't cry, don't cry. Kiss my kids for me. Don't let anything happen to them."   

The children will now be taken into care.

"Don't Cry": Natalie Pyne 

Judge Tapping added: "The car was used as a weapon. She was convicted of deliberately driving at the cyclist, with intent to cause him really serious harm, the prosecution put it as a road rage incident.

"What she did was gun her car into life, wheels spinning, and pursued him onto the pavement. She's been convicted of a deliberate attempt to mow him down on the pavement.

"She was driving so fast and in such a rage she clattered a Mercedes van and knocked it a metre out of its position."

Pyne's then 14 year-old eldest son was a front seat passenger and he told the court: "I thought I was going to die." 

Pyne reversed out of the ship front almost immediately. "The cyclist was still in the rubble," said the judge. "She could have run over him.

"Having the children in the car did not moderate her reaction to what happened with the cyclist."

Mr. Edgely, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered neck pain and abrasions to his right hip and wrist and tenderness to his right elbow and has suffered increased anxiety as a result of the court case.

Outside court he said: "I have not been able to go outside on my own and jump into the air whenever I see an SUV or large vehicle. Over a year later I have not been able to ride the bike and pushed it for two weeks.

"I don't want her to go to prison though. Why would I want to see a mother with six children go to prison."

Cyclist Simon Edgely

The court heard Mr. Edgely kicked the car twice and the pair had a screaming match in the middle of the busy road.

Pyne shouted: "You've hit my car," and Mr. Edgely replied: "I didn't hit your car. You didn't see me." After running him over she yelled: "Do you want to start making up more shit?"

During the trial prosecutor Mr. James Lofthouse said: "She got back in and chose to drive deliberately, in anger, at Mr. Edgely and drove into him, knocking him off his bike, with the car carrying on and ploughing into the shop."

Thirty minutes earlier a salon employee was folding towels at the front of the shop, which bore the brunt of the damage. 

The jury unanimously found Pyne guilty of attempting to cause Mr. Edgely grievous bodily harm, with intent, dangerous driving and causing over £26,000 worth of criminal damage to the salon.

Pyne, of Heatherdale Close, Kingston-upon-Thames has a previous conviction in March, 2009 for dangerous driving while over the alcohol limit, when she was pursued by police in the early hours at over double the speed limit, jumping two red lights and ignoring a no entry sign.

She was banned for a year and forced to pass an extended driving test to get her licence back and bought the Audi five months before running over Mr. Edgely.

A witness saw the cyclist rolling over the bonnet of the white Audi and heard Pyne shouting: "Shut up" at her crying children after the car came to rest in the wreckage of Park Salon, Park Road, Kingston-upon-Thames.

Mangled Bike At Crash Scene

She had just left Richmond Park, where the children had been playing, at approximately 5.30pm on June 7, last year, when Mr. Edgely, who was wearing a badge indicating his disability, bumped into Pyne when she suddenly pulled out.

"What happened was a road rage incident," explained Mr. Lofthouse. "Mr. Edgely remonstrated and kicked her vehicle and she got out and remonstrated with him."

A woman driving behind, Frances Teague, told the court: "The driver got out and they were shouting with hands flinging at each other, but there was no contact.

"The lady got back in and the cyclist was leaning down and shouting through the window and kicked the passenger side of the car. He then got on his bike and cycled off on the pavement.

"The Audi was revving and just zoomed off in the same direction as the cyclist. It shot off quickly and turned to the left very fast.

"I saw the cyclist's head and then it disappeared. A parked van juddered as if it had been hit and the car went straight into the building."

Fortunately Mr. Edgely was not seriously injured. "He was up and walking around in a daze. He was agitated."

Mr. Lofthouse told the jury: "By driving at him deliberately and knocking him off she intended to cause Mr. Edgely very serious harm.

"By driving into the front of the salon she was reckless about the collateral damage and her driving over that short period was very dangerous indeed.

"She also caused substantial damage to a silver Mercedes Sprinter van that was parked."

When questioned by police Pyne claimed it was an accident outside of her control.

"She said she had children in the car and was panicking because the car would not start and an involuntary motion caused it to lurch onto the pavement.

"The lurch onto the pavement was not caused by an involuntary movement of the car," said Mr. Lofthouse. "She got back into the car, in anger, the red mist descended and she chose to drive into Mr. Edgely."

Her lawyer, Miss Lisa Bald told the court: "Custody is avoidable in this case as a justifiable act of mercy. This was a flash of anger, it happened in seconds."

After eleven years on the council waiting list Pyne and her children, aged seven to fifteen years-old, have recently moved into a four-bedroom house. Her four eldest were with her first partner and the two youngest with her second.

The consequences for them are grim if a prison sentence was passed, added the lawyer. "It will look like all the children will have to go into care."