A man accused of pulling the handbrake on his girlfriend’s car and causing a crash appeared in Oxford Crown Court yesterday.

Terry Stoute, 34, has been charged with causing danger to other road users on the A40 between Cutteslowe roundabout and Marston by pulling on the handbrake in his former girlfriend Lisa-Marie Dancer’s car while she was driving, causing it to crash into a tree on May 15. Both suffered serious injuries.

Stout, formerly of Kidlington but now living in Reading, is also charged with assaulting Miss Dancer.

He will appear again for a plea and case management hearing on January 3.