Millionaire in road rage attack on OAP
A MILLIONAIRE businessman launched a road rage attack on a retired insurance broker in the driveway of the victim’s £1.3 million London home.
Iain Catleugh Hutchinson, 51, vaulted a garden gate and chased Jeremy Lyons ,66, around his parked car, punching him at least six times, before pushing him to the pavement and running away, a court heard.
Footage of the attack in the front garden of Mr Lyons’s home on a private road in Battersea was captured on CCTV played to Wimbledon magistrates’ court.
Hutchinson, who lives in a £3 million riverside penthouse in Batter sea Church Road, pleaded guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.
The property developer and owner of clockmaker Dent — which built Big Ben’s original chimes — was walking near his home when he stepped out in front of Mr Lyons’s car as he turned into his gated estate at 2pm on May 29.
Jackie Hughes, prosecuting, said Mr Lyons had to brake suddenly to avoid the defendant, who had stepped out into the road.
She said: “They both looked at each other for a couple of seconds. He saw the defendant, Mr Hutchinson, mouth the word ‘c***’.” CCTV footage shows Hutchinson confront bespectacled Mr Lyons after he got out of his car.
Grabbing the vic tim with his left hand, Hutchinson aimed a flurry of blows at Mr Lyons, who circled his vehicle in an attempt to escape.
Hutchinson dragged him to the ground off-camera and then left the scene, as Mr Lyons stumbled back to his feet to raise the alarm with a neighbour.
The victim suffered a cut to his left elbow, left ring finger, bruising to his left leg, plus pain to his back and neck.
He told police: “The incident left me shocked and scared. I have been attacked in my front garden and now I’m worried about going out of my house in case he is there again.
“My glasses were also damaged,” added Mr Lyons, who had aCT scan before the incident for two bulging discs in his spine.
“I told him I had a bad back and he continued the onslaught.”
Mr Lyons, who worked at Lloyds for 25 years as a reinsurer, drove himself to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital at 3am the next day and has received injections for back spasms since the assault.
Hutchinson claimed none of his six punches connected and denied kicking Mr Lyons, telling the court he pleaded guilty because he admits dragging him to the ground, causing the injuries.
Mr Lyons told the Standard: “I have a bad back, which previously needed two operations, and the last thing I needed was him punching me.”
He added that the attack left him in agony and unable to walk for two weeks.
Mr Lyons said he was still at a loss for a motive for the attack.
He said: “I stopped right in front of him and he nearly walked into my car. I looked him in the eye as if to say, ‘You were lucky’. It’s not my fault he’s walked off the edge of the pavement.”
District Judge James Henderson said: “This is a sustained attack on a victim in his own front garden.
“The defendant chased the victim all around the houses as he tried to get away and the victim says there were kicks.” Hutchinson was committed to Kingston-upon-Thames crown court for sentencing on a date to be fixed.
He has been banned by the police from entering Whistlers Avenue, interfering with witnesses or otherwise obstructing justice.