"Vengeful cyclist jailed for slashing 2,000 car tyres
Fri Apr 16,11:55 AM ET

LONDON (AFP) - A British cyclist was jailed for 16 months after admitting to slashing almost 2,000 vehicle tyres in revenge for the actions of ""inconsiderate"" motorists.

Ashley Carpenter, 37, began his one-man campaign attacking tyres on 548 cars, vans and lorries with a sharpened screwdriver after one car almost knocked him off his bike and another splashed him with a puddle.


Judge Stephen Lennard, sentencing Carpenter at Bournemouth Crown Court in southern England, called the scale of the revenge spree, costing an estimated 250,000 pounds (375,000 euros, 460,000 pounds) in new tyres and other expenses to victims, ""breathtaking"".


""In December last year, motivated by frustration and anger at what you considered to be the inconsiderate manner of motorists as experienced by you as a cyclist and a pedestrian, you embarked on your astonishing and extraordinary campaign,"" Lennard said.


Unemployed Carpenter -- described by his own defence counsel as a ""socially inadequate"" loner -- had decided to ""send out a message to motorists"", the judge said.


""In a period of 10 to 11 days, armed with a sharpened screwdriver, probably sharpened for the purpose, you went out and punctured 1,728 separate tyres on 548 different motor vehicles"" in Bournemouth and nearby Christchurch.


""The scale of the damage and the financial consequences of it are breathtaking.""




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