A disqualified driver has been jailed for more than two and a half years for dangerous driving and using his car as a weapon to intimidate.

John Pitson, of no fixed address, was convicted at Oxford Crown Court on December 4 of common assault, three counts of dangerous driving and three counts of driving while disqualified.

Pitson was sentenced to 30 months for dangerous driving, one month for common assault to run consecutively, and four months for driving while disqualified, to run concurrently.

He was banned from driving for three years and ordered to retake his test.

Pitson, 23, chased Paul Bolton in his Peugeot 205 bumper-to-bumper at high speeds along the A420 near Faringdon, before blocking the road and threatening to kill him, on July 14.

Later that evening he drove towards John Ioson and Peter Rogers as they left a social club in Sheards Lane, Stanford in the Vale, near Faringdon, almost running Mr Ioson down.

He was spotted the following morning by police and started a chase along the A417, driving at 80mph towards Wantage.

He crashed into a Rover Montego and abandoned his car in Ashdown Way, Grove, near Wantage.

Judge Anthony King said: "It is absolute mercy that you didn't hurt anyone. You are a menace."

Pitson has a history of driving-related offences.

He has already served a prison term for dangerous driving and escaping from a police station while in custody.