Man jailed for driving car on to dance floor

A clubber who ploughed his car on to a packed dance floor in a drink and drugfuelled rage after being thrown out by bouncers has been jailed for 28 years.

Mohammed Abdul said he felt “humiliated” after being ejected from Blake’s nightclub in Gravesend, Kent, on March 17 last year.

He drank at least 15 glasses of vodka, tequila shots and more than “five to 10 spliffs” of cannabis before he got behind the wheel of his Suzuki Vitara.

Bouncers had kicked him out for being too drunk, but he refused to leave and threatened to kill them before returning 10 minutes later with his car – injuring eight people.

The 21-year-old said he only intended to “make a nuisance of himself to get his own back on the door staff ”.

But his actions left 18-year-old Katie Wells with a fractured pelvis and cameraman Pierre Jermaine Joseph, who had gone to the club to film grime rapper Giggs, with a fractured shinbone.

A jury found Abdul, of Deptford in southeast London, guilty of two counts of attempted murder at a re-trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

Yesterday, he was handed two 28-year sentences which will be served concurrently.

Abdul, who only had a provisional licence for the car, was disqualified from driving until he passed his test.

The attack was captured on CCTV.

The footage from inside the club showed Abdul driving past bouncers, coursing down an alleyway packed with clubbers before stopping and then accelerating into the dancefloor in a marquee connected to the venue.

Libby Clark, senior crown prosecutor in CPS South East’s complex casework unit, said: “It was sheer luck that no one was killed that night, but the impact on those caught up cannot be underestimated.

“Aside from the physical injuries they suffered, they had to experience the nightmare of having a car hurtle towards them with no warning as they were enjoying a night out.”