This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A clubber who ploughed his car on to a packed dancefloor in a drink and drug-fuelled 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 17 March last year.

He drank at least 15 glasses of vodka, tequila shots and smoked 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 Katie Wells, 18, 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 south-east London, guilty of two counts of attempted murder at a retrial at Maidstone crown court.

On Thursday, 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.

Described by the prosecution as a determined and deliberate attempt to kill, using the car as a weapon, 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.

From a camera inside the club, the vehicle’s front lights could be seen getting closer and closer as dancers mingled, unaware the car was hurtling towards them.

One man could then be seen spreadeagled on the bonnet, swept off his feet as the car rammed into him from behind.

Others could be seen fleeing to safety as security guards appeared in pursuit of the car, shortly before midnight.

The car could then be seen reversing, its registration plate hanging off at an angle, as patrons staggered to get to their feet.

Some clubbers could also be seen appearing to swarm the vehicle and showering it with a volley of blows, while others looked visibly distressed in the corner of the nightclub.

Libby Clark, a 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.”