A bereaved son whose father died days earlier had a knife pulled on him by a car jacker.

The man was taking his Mitsubishi ASX into Kwik Fit to get the tyre replaced before he drove up to Wakefield with his wife to support his family.

At junction 11 of the M40, as he headed towards Banbury, he pulled up behind a Vauxhall Astra and offered to help the driver fix his blown-out tyre.

What happened next had left him unable to work and fearing his and his wife’s lives would ‘never be the same’, he told Oxford Crown Court in an impact statement read by prosecutor Shanice Mahmud. “The whole experience initially was like a surreal nightmare,” he added.

Christopher Evans, 31, pulled out a ’10 to 12 inch’ kitchen knife and said ‘I’ll stab you, you ****. I’ll f***ing stab you’ as he lunged towards the victim.

He told the man that he would be taking his Mitsubishi before making two trips, moving his belongings out of the Vauxhall and into the SUV.

An off-duty special constable was among those to witness the robbery. He stopped at the scene and tried to calm Evans down and keep him at the scene until police officers arrived.

He was unsuccessful, with Evans driving away down the M40. Other officers, including armed units, chased him towards junction 12 of the motorway.

They tried to box him in at the junction but he managed to swerve out of the way, narrowly avoiding a crash barrier.

The Mitsubishi was eventually boxed in by the officers in the middle lane of the motorway, while a police helicopter hovered above filming the chase from the sky.

It was found that the defendant was disqualified, having failed to pass the extended retest required when he was sentenced for dangerous driving,

Evans, of Drury Lane, Solihull, pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to robbery, possession of a knife, dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving without insurance and possession of cocaine.

Mitigating, Richard Davies said his client was ‘very remorseful, ashamed and not able himself to provide a coherent explanation…why exactly this offending has happened’.

His client suffered from anxiety and there was a suggestion he had traits of a borderline personality disorder, the court heard.

Jailing him for five years and 32 weeks, Judge Maria Lamb said: “A Good Samaritan stopped to help you after seeing you at the roadside with the blown-out tyre on your Astra and you thereafter subjected him to what must have been a terrifying experience.”

He was banned for two years, with the disqualification extended to cover the time he will spend serving his sentence in custody. 

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

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