Taxi driver jailed for vengeance attack

An angry driver of a black cab made history yesterday after being convicted in the first "vengeance" trial to come before an English court.

Peter Gay, 38, of Whitechapel, east London, who faces up to five years in jail, last November deliberately ran over a journalist who had given evidence against him in another court hearing, Southwark Crown Court was told. The victim, John Coughlan, targeted just six days after his attacker had failed to overturn a conviction for threatening him, said that the force of the impact caused him to stagger into the kerb and wrench his leg. The charge of "taking revenge", brought under Section 51 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, has never been tried in England before. Gay was remanded in custody until today, when he will be sentenced.