Justine Henshaw-Bryan, 25, used ‘car as a weapon’ after Damien Doughty confronted her about using phone while driving

A motorist who used her car to chase a cyclist and ram him into a tree after an argument over her use of a mobile phone at the wheel has been jailed for three years.

Damien Doughty suffered serious injuries after the incident in north London in February last year. Justine Henshaw-Bryan, who is now pregnant and due to give birth in November, claimed her boyfriend had grabbed the wheel.

But the judge told her she had used the car “as a weapon” to injure the cyclist and could have killed him.

“Those who are unable to control their temper while driving and feel that cyclists are fair game must be dealt with severely,” Judge Gregory Perrins told her as he passed sentence on Wednesday.

He said she must have been aware of the risk her driving presented to him. “This was a calculated attempt to run him over and use your car as a weapon. It would have been obvious that to do so would have carried significant risk of injury.”

Doughty said: “[I was] exceptionally scared. You can hear the engine revving really close to you. I remember the car rear ending me, kind of letting out a scream and realising what was happening. I crumbled into a heap on the floor, and I am in extreme amounts of pain.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Justine Henshaw-Bryan, 25, of Hackney, east London. Photograph: Metropolitan police/PA

Besides the jail term she was handed at Wood Green crown court, 25-year-old Henshaw-Bryan was also given a four-and-a-half-year driving disqualification and six penalty points.

The court heard that she had nearly collided with her victim as she pulled out in front of Doughty, a cycle courier, while using her phone in the Stoke Newington area of north-east London.

Doughty, who is 38, confronted Henshaw-Bryan over her use of the handset and she responded by shouting and swearing at him. Angered, Doughty then kicked her wing mirror when they met at the next set of lights, the court heard. Henshaw-Bryan chased the cyclist down and used the vehicle to send him into a tree, before driving off.

Doughty spent two weeks in hospital, including three days in intensive care, with a serious liver injury, as well as a broken hand and a punctured lung.

Henshaw-Bryan said she had been driving the Ford Fiesta with her then-boyfriend in the car, who she said had subjected her to domestic violence. She said that he told her to follow the cyclist and that it was her boyfriend who had grabbed the wheel and aimed the vehicle at Doughty. In evidence to the court her boyfriend denied grabbing the wheel.

But the judge did not accept that Henshaw-Bryan was frightened of her boyfriend and said her reaction to Doughty’s initial interaction with her suggested she was angry and confrontational.

In the dock, Henshaw-Bryan appeared tearful and could be seen looking over to her family who were in the public gallery.

As she was taken to the cells after her sentence was passed, she shouted out “I love you mummy, I love you daddy”, and blew kisses towards them. The court heard how she is a carer for her mother and helps her with “daily basic care needs”. Judge Perrins said he accepted this will have an impact on her parent but said that is her fault and “no one else’s”.