Teenager is convicted of driving into women outside city nightclub

A TEENAGE driver who ploughed into two young women outside a Newport nightclub in a terrifying hit and run had previously led police on a highspeed chase on the M4 and crashed through a Second Severn Bridge crossing barrier.

McCauley Cox, 19, was accused of deliberately driving into a crowd of people in his Ford people carrier after a fight broke out outside the Courtyard nightclub in Cambrian Road on Sunday, April 29.

He was charged with two counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to two women – Sophie Poole and Emma Nicholls – in the incident.

Yesterday, Cox was found guilty on both charges after the jury had deliberated for an hour and a half.

Prosecutor James Wilson told Newport Crown Court on Monday that Cox had deliberately driven his car at a man who was fighting with his two friends only to miss him and instead strike his victims who were sitting on a kerb waiting for a taxi.

The university friends suffered “really serious injuries”, with Miss Poole needing specialist skin grafts and Miss Nicholls suffering a lacerated spleen.

CCTV used in the trial was released on Wednesday showing Cox’s car approaching the crowd of pedestrians outside the Courtyard nightclub on Cambrian Road as some begin fighting.

The car clips one of the pedestrians, leading some to kick the Ford C-Max people carrier and confront Cox at either side of his vehicle.

Moments later the car darts forward and turns on to the pavement towards a group of people, including victims Miss Poole and Miss Nicholls who are sitting on a kerb.

Cox runs over the two girls before reversing back over them, then darting forward once more over their bodies and reversing further down the street.

Witnesses begin to attack his car and smash its windscreen, prompting Cox to accelerate out of the road at speed, missing other pedestrians by inches.

Miss Poole told the court that she “wasn’t aware of anything happening until I was underneath the car” and she just remembered the wheel coming towards her.

She added she though the ordeal was “never going to end”.

Miss Nicholls said she remembered her body being moved and heard a scream.

“The front of the car hit me the first time, I’m not sure about the second [the second time],” she said. “I felt myself being pushed down towards the ground and a huge pain to my lower back. I blacked out. “It was a huge crashing pain.”

Cox drove off and parked the car in Davon Place before coming back to Cambrian Road on foot.

He was found in the attic of a house. He told officers he had not driven the car in Cambrian Road and he had sold the vehicle.

Witness Nathan Rumble, who was outside the nightclub, said the car “looked like it went over a speed bump” and there was “a lot of screaming going on”.

Cox subsequently said he had driven the car forward to stop a fight, later saying he felt “scared” someone would get into the vehicle.

He added he didn’t realise he had run over two girls but thought he had run over a bollard or a bin.

After the verdict was delivered the court heard Cox has a string of previous convictions.

On January 6 last year he led Wiltshire Police on a high-speed chase on the M4, starting near Swindon, hitting speeds of over 120mph.

He then crashed through a barrier at “excessive speed” on the Second Severn Bridge crossing before leaving the M4 at junction 23A.

His car disintegrated soon after and Cox, who led the police on a chase on foot, was arrested nearby.

Cox also has a conviction for intent to supply heroin.

Just four days before the Newport hit and run attack, Cox attended magistrates’ court for breaching a battery order.

On March 14 this year Cox had headbutted his ex-partner.

Cox, of John Ireland Close, will be sentenced on Friday at Newport Crown Court.

Judge Daniel Williams said he needed more time to consider the “substantial sentence” in a youth offenders’ institution for his “outrageous behaviour”.

After the case Kelly Huggins, of the CPS, said: “McCauley Cox used his vehicle as a weapon and caused an incident which left his victims with serious injuries.

“The CPS showed in court that his actions in driving his car into the crowd