Driver jailed for killing man in West End rampage

A driver who killed a man and mowed down four others in a drink-fuelled rampage in London's West End in the early hours of Christmas Day has been jailed for life with a minimum sentence of 37 years.

Anthony Gilheaney, 32, was convicted in December for murder, attempted murder, wounding with intent and causing grievous bodily harm, following a trial.

The Old Bailey heard how Gilheaney deliberately drove his high-powered Mercedes into a gay couple, a pair of friends and another man on Shaftesbury Avenue, following an evening of drinking and fighting.

One of the men, Aidan Chapman, 25, was thrown into the air by the car and died in hospital of catastrophic head injuries on New Year's Eve.

Gilheaney, from Harlow, Essex, was cleared of attempting to murder a third man but was convicted of the alternative charge of causing him grievous bodily harm with intent.

The jury heard that after leaving a nightclub, he racially abused and knocked down Arif Khan before getting out to physically attack him.

After being attacked by a group of men who stepped in, Gilheaney got in his car and began mounting pavements, driving first at Marcelo Basbus-Garcia and his partner Miguel Waihrich.

Then, after narrowly missing a couple with their child in a pushchair he then drove across the street and hit Chapman and his friend, Tyrone Itorho - his trial was told.

Gilheaney was finally arrested in Lincoln's Inn Fields near Covent Garden after a police pursuit which recorded his car at speeds of over 90 mph.

The prosecution alleged he targeted people for racist and homophobic reasons.

Prosecuting, Crispin Aylett KC read out Victim Impact Statements from Mr Chapman's family, including one from his father Darren who told the court that work was his only respite from grief.

"I am left doubting my own prowess as a parent - that is what Anthony Gilheaney has done - he is a monster, he has shown no remorse, just narcissistic self-pity.

"By pleading not guilty he put us through weeks of trauma at court."

Dressed in a blue suit and a white shirt, Gilheaney bowed his head and at times appeared to be weeping as Chapman's statement continued: "My son loved life and would not harm anyone, loved his family and his little boy, loved his music and his friends, and his body art.

"He just lived his life – so kind, so considerate, my only child, a dad himself. His six-year-old son has been left with no father."

Aylett went on to detail Gilheaney's extensive criminal record which began when he was 14.

Mitigating, James Scobie KC said his client had been brought up with very little education and had lived "a pretty feral existence from a young age in which fast cars were very much his life".

He added: "In my dealings with him he has shown genuine remorse for the carnage he has caused."

Gilheaney previously told a jury he was not in control of the vehicle after he had been attacked by a group of men earlier that night, and that he did not intend to hurt anyone.

The court heard that Gilheaney has never had a driving licence and was not insured to drive a car.

Handing him a minimum term of 36 years and 343 days, Judge Maura McGowan admitted that nothing could cure the damage and pain caused by Aidan Chapman's murder, but "his loss was at the centre of these proceedings".

As he was being led down to the cells Gilheaney shouted at the judge: "I didn't mean to kill an innocent man."

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