A 22-year-old woman has been found guilty over a road rage incident filmed by BBC presenter Jeremy Vine.

Shanique Syrena Pearson, 22, was found guilty at Hammersmith magistrates court of using threatening or abusive behaviour and driving without reasonable consideration over a confrontation with Vine that took place on 26 August last year.

Her lawyer, James O’Keeffe, said Vine’s involvement in the case had ensured the case was far more high profile than it should have been and said Pearson had faced racial abuse as a result.

The Crimewatch and Radio 2 presenter posted video online of a “scary” confrontation with Pearson that took place in Kensington, west London, as he was cycling home.

The video, which was viewed more than 15m times on Facebook, was captured on Vine’s bike-mounted cameras.

It was shown to the magistrates court during the hearing last month. Vine, appearing as a witness, told the court he had been scared Pearson would assault him.

District judge Timothy King said he found Vine to be “a credible, truthful and believable witness”.

In the video, which was shown in court last month, Vine stops his bike after Pearson, who is driving behind him, revved her engine and beeped her horn. She shouts at him, and while Vine explains the Highway Code and said he needed to be riding in the centre of the road she gets out of the car and moves towards him, saying: “This is what gets cyclists killed, why the fuck would you stop in front of my car. You don’t respect your life?”

She tries to move Vine and his bike, grabbing the handlebars and using her feet to get him out of the way. She can be heard adding: “I could’ve hit you and been done for murder.”

There is a further confrontation moments later when Vine attempts to photograph her car and she again gets out of her car, saying: “Take a picture of my car again and I’ll knock you out.”

Vine alleged Pearson made a gun gesture with her fingers before driving off. O’Keeffe said during the trial Vine was “racially stereotyping” Pearson with the gun gesture claim. He added that the confrontation was a “complete misunderstanding”, with Pearson angry about Vine braking suddenly in front of her and Vine attempting to explain why he was cycling in the middle of the road, and that Vine had exaggerated the incident to boost his profile.

The judge told Pearson in his verdict that Vine “did nothing wrong with stopping in the way he did or where he did ... I do not consider that you were entitled to try and move him out of the way.”

He added: “I also have no doubt that Mr Vine felt immediately threatened… [and] no hesitation in accepting that you made a gun gesture.”

Pearson was nine months into a suspended sentence for theft, assault causing actual bodily harm, and resisting arrest at the time of the altercation with Vine. King commited her case to Isleworth crown court for sentencing.

O’Keeffe said Pearson was a single mother and the incident was “out of character in the sense it was unplanned, it was impulsive and it was something which she in her interview with the police is very willing to accept and did accept she was wrong”.

Vine had been wrong to “stop in the middle of the road and lecture her on how to drive and to pursue her when she had driven away”, he added.

Pearson had received racial abuse after the video was posted, and Vine had made no attempt to pixelate her or her licence plate before posting the video, he added. Vine’s involvement meant the case had received far more attention than an offence of this scale would usually attract, with a row of journalists in the court and cameras outside.

“He’s not on trial but in factoring in the impact on this young lady’s life ... it would be appropriate to take into account how she has suffered since this incident solely in respect of the matter of it being played out in the media.”















